Gadi Eisenkot emerges as a challenger to Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's upcoming election

Описание: (30 Jun 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Drom HaSharon (South Sharon) Regional Council, Israel - 30 June 2026
++MUSIC AT SOURCE++
1. Gadi Eisenkot, leader of “Yashar” party walking on stage
2. Crowd waving Israeli flags
3. Pan from crowd with Israeli flags to Eisenkot on stage
4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Gadi Eisenkot, Leader of “Yashar” party:
“This is a leadership that lies. As if there is no choice, but the chaos in which we live, that fuels division as if it has no price. That its only way to govern is to divide between us. This path has led us to a deep low. The massacre of Oct. 7, the surprise, the failure, and the magnitude of the impact have opened a new, bleeding wound.”
5. Wide of Eisenkot on stage, crowd clapping
6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Gadi Eisenkot, leader of “Yashar” party:
“I believed that, faced with the magnitude of the hour, we are required to make a profound and urgent change. I believed that Israel needed a true, worthy and honest Zionist leadership. A political home for citizens who dream of a different Israel.” (UPSOUND clapping)
7. Wide of Eisenkot on stage
8. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Gadi Eisenkot, leader of “Yashar” party:
“I stand here, and pledge to you, that I will do as I have always done, whatever is necessary for the country. That I will be worthy of your trust. That I will see you. That I will bring unifying leadership. One that is rooted in the tradition of Israel, its heritage and its teachings. That I will be the Prime Minister of all the citizens of Israel!” ++SHOT ZOOMS OUT TO AUDIENCE CLAPPING++
9. Eisenkot, party members and activists on stage while Israel’s national anthem is played
10. Various of Eisenkot, party members and activists on stage clapping, crowd
STORYLINE:
A leading Israeli general who quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war Cabinet after accusing him of lacking a strategy in Gaza has emerged as one of the premier’s most serious challengers in elections scheduled for the fall.

“I stand here, and pledge to you, that I will do as I have always done, whatever is necessary for the country," said Gadi Eisenkot in central Israel at Tuesday's event of his centrist political party.

He also accused Netanyahu of strategic failure in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and said his vision of a more isolated Israel is a threat to the future of the state.

He described Oct. 7 attacks as "the surprise, the failure, and the magnitude of the impact have opened a new, bleeding wound.”

Eisenkot, a former general, resigned in 2024 from Netanyahu's war cabinet, citing what he said was Netanyahu’s lack of strategy as Israel prosecuted its war in Gaza.

Eisenkot sent a blistering letter to fellow cabinet members warning that they were mistaking incremental battlefield gains for decisions that could actually neutralize Hamas and make Israel more secure.

A 66-year-old son of Jewish Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot comes from a working-class family and has served four decades in Israel's military. 

His 25-year-old son, Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed in combat in Gaza in 2023.

Eisenkot’s platform includes a pledge to strengthen Israel's national security, including through regional cooperation, although he has said that he supports Jewish settlements that are “in line with Israel's interests” in the occupied West Bank. 

Like nearly all of the prime minister's rivals, Eisenkot has broadly supported Israeli military operations in places such as Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. 

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