Israeli Politicsupdated 1h ago3 min read
Gadi Eisenkot Challenges Benjamin Netanyahu as Yashar Bloc Leads in Israel Election Polls
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Gadi Eisenkot emerges as Netanyahu's main challenger in the Israeli election race. Polls show Eisenkot's Yashar bloc ahead or near parity with Netanyahu's Likud.
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Eisenkot Challenges Netanyahu
Former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, founder of the centrist Yashar party, is positioning himself as the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s upcoming election. DW said Eisenkot is campaigning on accountability, political reform, and national unity, while he has sharply criticized Netanyahu’s leadership before and after the October 7 Hamas attacks. Haaretz said a Channel 13 News poll projects Eisenkot’s bloc would win 51 Knesset seats compared with 50 for the bloc backing Netanyahu, while a Channel 12 News poll shows 55 seats to 51.
The Haaretz account added that a boycott by some parties in the Eisenkot bloc of cooperation with the Arab parties leaves the bloc short of 60 seats, even as it reported Yashar and Likud holding steady at 20 and 18 seats in the Channel 13 poll. Polymarket bets also placed Eisenkot ahead, with The Jerusalem Post reporting Polymarket gave Eisenkot a roughly 49% chance of becoming prime minister after the October 27 election, compared with 31% for Netanyahu and 16% for Naftali Bennett.
Arab turnout and coalition math
Mansour Abbas told Reuters in his office in Nazareth that Ra’am leaders are urging the Arab community to vote in the October 27 election, hoping higher turnout could nudge Israel’s coalition arithmetic in favor of an anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Yashar chairperson Gadi Eisenkot.
Abbas said, "We can ensure the formation of a new government of change," and he added, "We want to replace the right-wing government... to end the wars and these policies, to stop the expansion of settlements and to address the failure to stop settler attacks," as he argued for shared security and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
Eisenkot said, "I do not see an Arab party that accepts my principles," and he cited, among other issues, their refusal to label Hamas a terrorist organization.
Haaretz reported that a poll by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan shows Netanyahu’s bloc receiving 51 seats and Eisenkot’s bloc at 52 due to the boycott of Arab parties pursued by some parties in Eisenkot’s bloc, while it said the Arab parties of Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List and the Joint List win a combined total of 13 seats.
The Times of Israel quoted Dahlia Scheindlin saying, "Polls are a reflection of who we are. They're not a perfect reflection, but then nothing else is either," as it described how small shifts around the electoral threshold can decide which parties enter the Knesset.
Trump, Obama tension, and stakes
Donald Trump announced his full support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli legislative elections, and he wrote on Truth Social, "Netanyahu has been a great fighting prime minister and a greater partner for peace."
Al-Mashhad al-ʿArabī | West Asian said Trump warned that if Israel has the "wrong leader," the United States will have to confront Iran by itself, while it quoted Trump calling Netanyahu "brave and strong."
France 24 reported that Netanyahu criticized former U.S. President Barack Obama after Obama said that Israel has "lost its moral superiority" in its treatment of the Palestinians.
Netanyahu responded by posting a video clip and calling Obama’s remarks "regrettable," while France 24 quoted Netanyahu saying, "The Jewish people are not an foreign occupier on the land of our ancestors."
The Times of Israel framed the stakes through polling mechanics, saying Channel 12’s margin of error of 4.4% is worth about five seats out of the Knesset’s 120, and it warned that parties hovering around the 3.25% electoral threshold could gain four seats or get zero.