Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar leads Likud 23-22 in Israel poll before October election

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s new Yashar party narrowly leads Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud in a Channel 12 poll before Israel’s October 27 general election.

The survey projected 23 seats for Yashar and 22 for Likud in the 120-member Knesset. It also found that 43 percent of respondents considered Eisenkot the most suitable candidate for prime minister, compared with 34 percent for Netanyahu.

Eisenkot, 66, served as chief of staff of the Israeli military from 2015 to 2019. His campaign is based on a 10-point platform that he says would restore Israel’s security, unity and democratic institutions.

His pledges include creating a state commission of inquiry into Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, establishing a new long-term national security doctrine and introducing universal national service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab citizens.

Eisenkot has also pledged to protect judicial independence, the rule of law, minority rights and a free press.

The item describes his wider position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as less clearly defined. He has dismissed calls for a future Palestinian state as irrelevant following the October 7 attacks.

Analysts quoted by AFP said Eisenkot was attracting voters who oppose Netanyahu but remain wary of other opposition figures, including Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.