Eisenkot says Netanyahu unfit to lead another Iran operation

Eisenkot says Netanyahu unfit to lead another Iran operation; aims to overtake Likud by ‘significant’ margin in election

Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot says he is unaware of any “critical” development that would justify an immediate US-Israeli strike on Iran, amid reports that fighting could resume before the October 27 election.

Speaking to Army Radio, the former IDF chief of staff notes that he is no longer privy to high-level intelligence after leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet.

Still, he says, “after three years of war, in my eyes, the prime minister is not fit to carry out another operation,” accusing Netanyahu of failing to achieve the war’s goals.

Eisenkot says a renewed campaign in the coming weeks would be justified only if Iran were making a break for a nuclear weapon, a scenario he doubts given the regime’s weakened state.

He calls the Islamic Republic’s downfall “necessary,” but says it is not an “achievable goal” through military action.

“This is something that needs to come from within the Iranian people,” he says.

Turning to the election, Eisenkot says his party is campaigning to replace “the most horrible government since the country’s founding” and form a “national Zionist coalition” with 63 or 64 seats. Yashar aims to beat Likud by a “significant” margin and attract former Likud voters, he says.

Although pre-election polls show neither bloc close to winning a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, Eisenkot says he does not trust the surveys, citing the support he has encountered while campaigning around the country.

“I believe we will achieve” a majority coalition, he says, adding that voters “cannot bring themselves” to support Netanyahu’s government, which he calls a “criminal gang.”

He also argues that Netanyahu’s bloc may be smaller than polls suggest, since ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism has not committed to joining a government led by the premier.

Eisenkot recalls joining Netanyahu’s war cabinet at the start of the war and seeing “what it means when a leader and leadership is thrown off its balance.”

Anyone who was in power on October 7, he says, “shouldn’t be a leader in the State of Israel.”

The Times of Israel Community.