Gadi Eisenkot challenges Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel's 27 October election

The campaign for the Knesset

Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the primary challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel's national election on 27 October 2026. Eisenkot leads the newly formed party Yaschar, which translates as upright or straight ahead, and currently polls ahead of Netanyahu's Likud. The election follows four years of governance marked by domestic friction with the Supreme Court and legal institutions, alongside the war in Gaza following the 7 October 2023 attacks. Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister almost continuously since 2009, opened his official campaign on 17 September 2026 by framing the vote as a binary choice between his right-wing coalition and a leftward path. During his campaign launch, he presented a road sign depicting a right turn versus a left turn, declaring that no straight path exists in a direct verbal jab at Yaschar.

Opposition dynamics and polling numbers

The opposition alliance has evolved over the course of 2026. At the start of the year, opinion polls positioned former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the helm of the four-party opposition alliance known as Gush HaShinui, or the Change Bloc. Beginning in May 2026, Eisenkot doubled his public approval ratings over a two-month span, subsequently overtaking both Bennett and Netanyahu in leadership preference surveys. Despite these gains, polling from August 2026 indicated that Jewish opposition factions led by Eisenkot stood to win 59 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving them two seats short of an outright parliamentary majority. That tight distribution has prompted discussion over whether Eisenkot would need to construct an alliance involving Arab political parties to unseat the incumbent prime minister.

Contrasting profiles on the trail

The political contest presents two starkly different biographical and personal profiles to Israeli voters. Eisenkot, the son of Moroccan immigrants who grew up in the country's geographical periphery, previously served as Chief of the General Staff. During the Gaza war, he lost his son Gal Eisenkot and two nephews in combat, a personal loss that he chooses not to address during public appearances. Appearing at campaign events such as an address in Afula, Eisenkot delivers policy outlines in measured, lengthy sentences while wearing civilian suits instead of his longtime military uniform. Ofer Kenig, a political researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, noted that the candidate's appeal reaches beyond his armed forces resume.

The Eisenkot phenomenon cannot be explained by his military experience alone. Israelis are tired of ultra-charismatic political figures like Netanyahu.

Military veterans in Israeli politics

Netanyahu offers a contrasting political persona rooted in decades of high-level statecraft and media exposure. Born in Tel Aviv, he represented Israel at the United Nations in New York during the 1980s and has remained a central figure in domestic politics ever since. His son Yair Netanyahu resides in Florida and regularly generates public attention through online criticisms directed at opposition figures. The transition from high military rank into legislative politics follows an established pattern in Israel, where two-thirds of former military chiefs of staff have entered politics following the required three-year cooling-off period. Historical precedents include Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Netanyahu has also entered cultural campaign disputes, including public debate surrounding the military film Naza, seeking to mobilize support around traditional defense institutions ahead of the October vote.