Israel’s Eisenkot vows unity as Netanyahu paints him as soft on Iran

Tel Aviv – Israeli election contender Gadi Eisenkot on Sunday vowed to unite the country as he held his final major rally before the vote, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to tar his main rival as soft on Iran.

Netanyahu has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, but Eisenkot has cast him as unfit to lead and pledged a state commission of inquiry into the failings that led to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack under the incumbent’s watch.

Polls had showed Netanyahu and Eisenkot running neck and neck before a ban on new polling took effect in the three days before Tuesday’s vote.

Speaking to an audience of hundreds on Sunday, Eisenkot pledged to heal divisions inside Israeli society after Netanyahu’s divisive tenure, and voiced “a commitment to security and the economy.”

“Our goal is not for one side to defeat the other. That is not our way,” he said. “We will work to bring all Israelis together again — those who voted for us and those who did not.”

A relative newcomer to politics — in contrast with Netanyahu and his 30 years on the scene — Eisenkot’s pledge to unite Israelis has resonated with some voters, and for many the ex-army chief’s plainspokenness is part of his appeal.

“I feel that he’s a rock for us. ... He’s someone I can trust,” Yael Shkedi, a 66-year-old jewellery-maker, said at Eisenkot’s rally. “Amid all this chaos, what really matters to me is this feeling of someone who can somehow bring everyone together, almost like a father figure.”

In his speech, Eisenkot said he would “always look you in the eye and tell the truth,“ and pledged to “take responsibility for both successes and failures.”

He also appealed directly to wavering supporters of Netanyahu’s Likud party, urging them to change course.

“Deep down, you too know that Israel cannot go on like this,” he said. “Israel needs change.”

Netanyahu’s critics accuse him of putting his political survival above the greater good, and he is currently facing trial on corruption charges, which he denies.

Rally attendee Chen Sharon, an army reservist, said she wanted “people that I can count on” in office.

“We need someone that we can actually believe his values and what he represents to us,” she said.

Over the course of the campaign, Netanyahu has played to Israeli voters’ opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, and posters have been splashed across the country with the slogan “Either the Right or Palestine.”

He has also touted the still-unresolved war that he launched against Iran alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, who has endorsed him in the race.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours the Mahane Yehuda market ahead of Israel's national election, in Jerusalem on Friday. | REUTERS

Appearing after Eisenkot’s rally on Channel 14, Netanyahu again suggested the ex-general and his allies “want to create a Palestinian state, a catastrophe for Israel.”

“They will not destroy Iran’s nuclear program,” he told a boisterous studio audience. “We’ve done 90% of the work, 10% remains. Who is going to do it? Eisenkot and the Muslim Brotherhood? No. Only I can do it.”

Eisenkot has said he is opposed to a Palestinian state, but has vowed to crack down on extremist West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinians with impunity.

Netanyahu on Sunday posted an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud engulfing Tel Aviv, alongside text attributed to a right-wing political commentator calling Iran an existential threat and arguing that all the other issues discussed this election season were trivial in comparison.

In a post on X addressing Netanyahu on Saturday, Eisenkot accused the premier of playing up the Iran threat when it suited him politically.

“You have once again failed spectacularly and blatantly to achieve the war objectives you yourself set,” he added.

Longtime opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has promised to join a coalition with Eisenkot, said Netanyahu had “lost his grip.”

“Yesterday, Netanyahu announced that U.S. security aid was over and that sanctions would crush our economy. This morning, he posted a video in which an atomic bomb lands on Tel Aviv,” he said on X.

“This man has lost his grip. We absolutely must send him home.”