Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar leads Netanyahu’s Likud in Israel poll before October election

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot has become a leading challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Israel's October 27 general election, with a Channel 12 poll putting his new Yashar party narrowly ahead of Likud.

The survey projected 23 seats for Yashar and 22 for Netanyahu's 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, was chief of staff of the Israeli military from 2015 to 2019. His campaign is built around 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 on Israel, setting a new long-term national security doctrine, and passing a universal national service law that would extend compulsory service to ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab citizens.

Eisenkot has also pledged to protect judicial independence, the rule of law, minority rights and a free press. His wider position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is described in the item as less clearly defined, while he has dismissed calls for a future Palestinian state as irrelevant after the October 7 attacks.

Analysts quoted by AFP said Eisenkot is drawing support from voters who oppose Netanyahu but are wary of other opposition figures, including Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.