Eisenkot Rules Out Unity With Netanyahu Ahead of 2026 Election

Opposition figures seek to form a new coalition

Eisenkot is attempting to build a coalition with several opposition figures to secure a majority.

Right-wing politicians break with Netanyahu

Two prominent right-wing Israeli politicians who recently broke with Netanyahu are being discussed as potential leaders of a coalition that could remove him from power. Both Gantz and Kahlon have indicated they could work together with Arab parties to form a majority against the Prime Minister.

Arab parties traditionally do not join right-wing coalitions, but their leaders have warned they will support any group that removes Netanyahu. This support remains conditional on the new coalition respecting the status of the Arab minority and ending settlement expansion.

Herzi Halevi considered as potential political leader

Former Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi is being profiled as a possible future political leader who could end Netanyahu’s era. Several centrist and right-wing politicians have approached Halevi to consider a political role.

Halevi has not yet announced any candidacy.

Netanyahu maintains ties with far-right partners

Netanyahu maintains ties with far-right leaders Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as potential coalition partners.

Eisenkot's tenure in the war cabinet

Gadi Eisenkot served in the war cabinet following the start of the war in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Eisenkot to join a small war cabinet four days after the conflict started, as a ground invasion was expected. Although the two are currently political adversaries, Eisenkot held the role of chief of the general staff under Netanyahu from February 2015 to January 2019. Netanyahu hoped the cabinet would project unity to a public divided by mass demonstrations against his judiciary-reform efforts.

Eisenkot prioritized preventing a second front against Hezbollah, arguing that Israel should concentrate on defeating Hamas before engaging the Lebanese group. Eisenkot was successful in his stance regarding the issue, despite Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior ministers supporting a pre-emptive offensive against Hezbollah against the wishes of the Biden Administration.

Eisenkot argued that securing the release of 251 people abducted by Hamas on Oct. A full-scale military campaign should be secondary to 7. He proposed a hostage deal before defeating Hamas. Netanyahu opted for an alternative path, beginning a ground invasion after significant aerial bombardment of the military infrastructure of Hamas, which included a network of subterranean tunnels.

Personal tragedy and the impact of the Gaza war

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing civilians and taking hostages. Eisenkot describes the attack as the most severe slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

On that day, Eisenkot woke his 25-year-old son, Gal, at their family home in Herzliya. Gal, a reservist trained as a combat medic, was home for Simchat Torah instead of his university apartment. Eisenkot drove his son to the unit base as lines of reservists formed.

Two months into the war, a major general approached Eisenkot at a military headquarters while he studied a satellite map of battalion positions. The general told him that Gal was critically injured and instructed him to go home. Gal was killed in combat in Gaza that December.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by the military campaign. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Civilians were placed at risk because Hamas concealed weapons and military facilities within densely populated areas.

Expert perspective on Eisenkot's political goals

Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said Eisenkot offers the country an attempt to "repair" the "Jewish and democratic ethos of the majority of Israelis".