Netanyahu rival Eisenkot says PM puts survival first

Gadi Eisenkot, the founder of the Yashar party and a former military commander, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of putting political survival ahead of Israel's security at a rally in Rosh Haayin, central Israel, on Monday.

Eisenkot unveiled Yashar's candidates for Israel's October 27 election. He said Israel needed leadership that could unite the country after divisions that followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and disputes over Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza and on other fronts.

He did not set out how he would handle the Palestinian question or the wars against Iran and Lebanon launched by Netanyahu.

Eisenkot also criticised exemptions and benefits for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, asking whether Israel would continue under a government that, in his words, promotes evasion of duty and gives billions of shekels to people who neither serve nor work.

Yashar, founded a year ago, has risen in recent polls. A poll by Israel's public broadcaster Kan published Sunday projected Yashar winning 23 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, ahead of Netanyahu's Likud on 20.

The poll put the anti-Netanyahu bloc on 51 seats and Likud with its coalition partners on 52, leaving both short of the 61 seats needed to govern unless they secure backing from unaligned parties. It projected two Arab-majority lists at 13 seats together.

Eisenkot said he believed his party could draw voters away from Likud, the historic political home of the Israeli right.