Gadi Eisenkot, 66, is a former Israeli army chief who leads Yashar, the party that topped all three final TV polls before Tuesday’s election. The Oct. 23 polls gave Yashar 22 to 23 seats and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud 19 to 21, Haaretz reported.

He is running for prime minister for the first time, NPR notes, with a party founded 13 months ago. If he forms a government, he would be Israel’s first Mizrahi prime minister, CNN notes. Mizrahi Jews trace their roots to the Middle East and North Africa. Our guide to how Israel’s election works covers the voting rules and the full poll numbers.

From Eilat to chief of staff, and the “Dahiya” remarks

Eisenkot’s parents were Moroccan Jewish immigrants. Born in the Galilee, he grew up in Eilat, the Red Sea port at Israel’s southern tip, The Christian Science Monitor reported. He enlisted in the Golani infantry brigade in 1978. Over a 40-year career he rose to chief of staff, serving from 2015 to 2019 under Netanyahu, according to CNN.

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Two episodes from his army years follow him into this campaign. In 2016, Sgt. Elor Azaria shot and killed a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron. Eisenkot backed a military investigation and trial despite pressure from right-wing politicians, Netanyahu among them, CNN reported. He said he was defending the army’s discipline and ethics.

The second dates to 2008, when he headed the army’s Northern Command after the 2006 war with Hezbollah. He described Israel’s plan for a future war to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Reuters reported at the time. “What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on,” he said. “We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there.” He added: “This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved.”

That approach became known as the Dahiya, or Dahiyeh, doctrine. CNN describes it as “using overwhelming force against civilian infrastructure to deter future militant attacks” and links him to it. Al Jazeera credits him with originating it.

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Gantz’s party, the war cabinet and his son Gal

Eisenkot entered politics in 2022 on the National Unity list of Benny Gantz, who preceded him as army chief. After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the party joined Netanyahu’s emergency government. Eisenkot became a minister without portfolio and a war cabinet observer, The Times of Israel reported.

On Dec. 7, 2023, his son Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, a reservist master sergeant, died in northern Gaza. A bomb exploded in a tunnel shaft near soldiers in the Jabaliya area, The Times of Israel reported. A nephew, Sgt. Maor Cohen Eisenkot, died in Gaza fighting the next day. CNN reports that a second nephew also died in combat.

In April 2026, he wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth: “Over Gal’s grave, I swore that the price he paid, he and his friends, those he knew and those he didn’t, would not be in vain.” CNN says he calls that promise central to his political mission.

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He and Gantz quit the government on June 9, 2024. In his resignation letter, Eisenkot wrote that the war cabinet had long failed to make key decisions. He also said politics had entered its discussions, The Times of Israel reported.

Why he left Gantz and founded Yashar

On June 30, 2025, National Unity announced that Eisenkot was leaving the party and the Knesset. He had joined Gantz in 2022 after receiving guarantees that the party would hold primaries, including for its leader. Gantz did not deliver, The Jerusalem Post reported. Gantz said “significant ideological differences have emerged between us regarding the right way to serve the State of Israel.”

Eisenkot announced Yashar (“straight” or “honest” in Hebrew) on Sept. 16, 2025. “The establishment of the Yashar! With Eisenkot Party is a personal and national duty,” he said, according to The Jerusalem Post. He said it “will place the security and national interests of the State of Israel above all other considerations.” CNN reports the name comes from a line by Eli Sharabi, a former hostage: “It’s not right, it’s not left, it’s straight.”

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Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen is No. 2 on the party’s 40-name list, JNS reported. Ex-ministers Matan Kahana, Chili Tropper and Elazar Stern are also on it.

His platform, in his own words, and his critics

Eisenkot’s two main promises are a state inquiry into Oct. 7 and military or national service for all, ultra-Orthodox men included. “Netanyahu was warned and did not act. A State Commission of Inquiry that we will establish will investigate the disaster,” he said, as compiled by Al Jazeera. On the draft, he said: “That is what the upcoming election is about: Netanyahu’s draft-dodging government, or a government of conscription led by me.”

He rejects a Palestinian state for now. Al Jazeera also quotes him on the Palestinians: “My position on the Palestinian issue has remained consistent: The principle of two states for two peoples is a mistake.” CNN reports that he has pledged to end Hamas rule in Gaza within 18 months. He also opposes formal annexation and illegal outposts, CNN says. He has also called new construction in E1, east of Jerusalem, a mistake. “Not now. It is a mistake that comes at an international cost,” he said, JNS reported.

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Critics come from both directions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich answered the E1 comments, according to JNS: “The truth is out. The concessions by the Eisenkot-Liberman-Golan government began even before it came to power.” From the other side, Ahron Bregman of King’s College London told Al Jazeera that Eisenkot, Bennett and Liberman “represent right-wing politics.” He said they “are not willing to touch the real, fundamental issue.” CNN calls him “a hawk who shares many of Netanyahu’s positions” on security. That includes the goal of stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Iran also shaped the campaign’s last days, as our report on army chief Eyal Zamir and the Iran dispute explains.

What happens if Eisenkot’s party wins the most seats

Finishing first does not make him prime minister. President Isaac Herzog gives the mandate to whoever is likeliest to build a 61-seat majority. None of the final polls put the anti-Netanyahu parties there without the Arab-majority lists. Our explainer on coalition rules walks through that process.

He has ruled out serving under Netanyahu. “Absolutely not. I will not serve under Netanyahu, not even in a rotation agreement. If that happens, you’ll see it; I’ll resign an hour later,” he told 103FM radio, The Jerusalem Post reported.

He has floated a minority government if his bloc wins 58 or 59 seats, The Jerusalem Post reported. Avigdor Liberman and Naftali Bennett oppose that plan. The Arab-majority Ra’am party is the open question. Al Jazeera reports that he ruled Ra’am out of a coalition in a Sept. 26 Channel 12 interview. The Jerusalem Post reported on Oct. 24 that he has not ruled out its outside support.

Polls close at 10 p.m. Israel time, 4 p.m. Eastern. After the Central Elections Committee certifies the results, Herzog will consult each party on whom to nominate. Eisenkot believes finishing first would strengthen his hand in those talks, according to The Jerusalem Post.