Gadi Eisenkot - Israel's 'not Netanyahu' candidate

On Tuesday, Israelis choose between a prime minister who has led them for much of the last two decades - and a former army chief who has been in politics for less than four years.

Gadi Eisenkot’s new centrist party, Yashar - Hebrew for "upright" - leads most polls.

He is a bereaved father, a former chief of staff of the Israeli military and the most serious challenger Benjamin Netanyahu has faced in years.

He is also something of an unknown quantity.

At a rally in a shopping centre in Modi’in, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, several of those who came to hear him told RTÉ News they wanted to find out more about him. For others, it was simply enough that he is not Mr Netanyahu.

That seems to be the bet his campaign is making. Three years after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, 2023, Mr Eisenkot is wagering that he can coast to victory on the basis that he isn't Mr Netanyahu.

But, with the polls suggesting a tight race, whether that is enough is the question hanging over the final days of the campaign.

The general

Mr Eisenkot’s story is the main thing he has to sell.

His son, Gal, was killed fighting in Gaza in December 2023. Two of his nephews have also been killed in the war in Gaza. He had been in parliament for less than a year when the Hamas attacks on 7 October prompted him to join Mr Netanyahu’s emergency government and its war cabinet.

He quit in 2024, accusing the prime minister of having no plan for what came after the war, and went on to found Yashar.

"He’s smart and well-informed and very experienced," said Yael Sternhell, a historian at Tel Aviv University and a former television news anchor.

"No skeletons in the closet, nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, a grieving father, which carries a great deal of weight in Israel."

Tal Schneider, political correspondent with the Times of Israel, who interviewed him recently, said the sorrow is part of the draw.

"When they look at him on TV, you actually want to hug him or be hugged by him," she told RTÉ News.

"The empathy factor is a big player here."

Nor, despite leaving Mr Netanyahu’s cabinet, is he a dove.

What he is offering

Beyond a state inquiry into 7 October - something Mr Netanyahu has long resisted - a larger army and an equal draft for all sectors of society, including the ultra-Orthodox, Mr Eisenkot has said little about what he would do on the issues that define Israel’s standing abroad.

That is deliberate, said Prof Sternhell.

The Occupied West Bank is the exception.

There, Mr Eisenkot has been more willing to say what he would do, in a territory where attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have surged since the war in Gaza began, provoking a raft of sanctions and abrogation from several European governments.

He told Prof Schneider he would reintroduce administrative detention for violent settlers, holding suspects without charge or trial. Israel’s defence minister ended the practice for settlers in 2024, while it continues for more than 3,000 Palestinians.

"It’s not a really good democratic tool," Ms Schneider said, "but when you have people like that, sometimes you don’t have an option."

The world

He has also pledged to return Israel to "the community of nations". It is far from the biggest issue in this campaign, but it matters to some of those weighing a vote for him.

"I think it's a big failure," said Dr Naomi Dar, an English teacher at the rally in Modi’in, of Israel’s international reputation.

"We are not presenting a nice face of Israel right now."

Almost three-quarters of Israelis told the Israel Democracy Institute last year that Israel's standing has worsened since the start of the war.

But that does not necessarily translate into blame for Mr Netanyahu, Prof Sternhell says - especially on the right, where voters feel the world judges Israel unfairly.

"They do not see Netanyahu as essentially at fault for the fact that, when they get into a cab in Europe now, they're embarrassed to admit that they're from Israel."

It is also his greatest test. Israelis are still raw from the 7 October 2023 attacks, and many want the war in Gaza fought to the bitter end.

To restore Israel’s international standing, Mr Eisenkot will have to tell them it isn't working.

"I wonder if Gadi Eisenkot is going to be the politician who will be able to face Israelis and say, I know you're traumatised," Prof Sternhell said.

"But this is not going anywhere. And the price that we are paying internationally, the boycott, the sanctions that are coming, the sense of fear and sometimes shame that you feel as an Israeli whenever you leave the country, that is not something that we can live with."

'Not Netanyahu'

The campaign itself has been oddly low-key for what is being called the most consequential election in Israel’s history. Rallies like the one in Modi’in have been few and far between.

That may be deliberate.

"Whenever they feel besieged, threatened, they move into action," Prof Sternhell said of Mr Netanyahu's supporters.

"I think what Eisenkot is trying to do is to make sure that these voters aren't mobilised."

It leaves him leaning on the one thing that unites his backers.

"First and foremost, he is not Bibi Netanyahu," said Dr Dar.

Even on stage, his manner is a far cry from that of the telegenic prime minister, with his polished, American-accented English and a lifetime's practice before the cameras.

Mr Eisenkot is plain-spoken and a little stiff - a general, not a showman.

"He is trying to convey the point that, if you elect me, things could be normal again," Prof Sternhell added.

The arithmetic is unforgiving.

Likud, Benjamin Netanyahy’s party could lose more than 10 seats - but neither of the two main blocs is near the 61 seats needed for a majority in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.

Even without a majority, Mr Eisenkot has pledged to form a minority government if he gets more votes - but he will ultimately be hoping for a more decisive result.

On Tuesday, Israelis will decide whether being "not Netanyahu" is enough.