Gadi Eisenkot, 2026 positions · Yashar

Who they are

Gadi Eisenkot was the 21st chief of staff of the Israeli army and now leads Yashar, the party he founded. He was born in Tiberias in 1960 to Meir and Esther Eisenkot, who had come from Morocco, and the family moved to Eilat before his first birthday. From the age of nine he boarded as an outside child at Kibbutz Tze’elim. He read history at Tel Aviv University, political science at Haifa, and studied at the United States Army War College.

He enlisted into the Golani Brigade in 1978 and was wounded in the head during his officers’ course. In the First Lebanon War he took over a company whose commander had been hit at the Beaufort and led it at Ein a-Tina, Nabatieh and Beirut airport. He rose through Golani as a company, battalion and deputy brigade commander, took the brigade itself in 1997, and then served as military secretary to prime minister Ehud Barak, head of the operations directorate, head of Northern Command and deputy chief of staff.

Eisenkot entered politics with National Unity under Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa’ar, and chaired a Knesset subcommittee on security doctrine. He sat in the war cabinet as an observer and a minister without portfolio from October 2023 and resigned in June 2024. His son and his nephew were both killed fighting in Gaza in December 2023. He left the Knesset in July 2025.

Positions and record

October 7: A state commission of inquiry before anything else.

Service: National service for every community as a coalition condition.

Security: The hostages first; strength with strategic patience.

Equality: Committed at a July 2026 "Sagi's Laws" equality event to placing an LGBTQ+ candidate in a realistic slot on his Knesset list, and said a sitting prime minister once blocked a general's promotion over his sexual orientation.

Where they stand

Holds the party line on every issue.

Judea & Samariaparty lineNo Palestinian state. Eisenkot has never supported establishing one, and opposition is the only line he has taken on the question.

Two states / withdrawalSovereignty / annexation

Gaza & Securityparty lineA new security doctrine, and an alternative government in Gaza on Israel's terms. Eisenkot pressed for the Rafah operation as leverage for a hostage deal.

Deal & disengagementFull military control

Haredi Enlistmentparty lineEveryone is summoned, the army first and civilian service otherwise, with prosecution for evaders. Up to 3 per cent of each intake may defer a year for Torah study.

Universal draftPreserve exemptions

Judiciaryparty lineA judiciary that is strong, independent and accountable, a Knesset that is sovereign, and a Basic Law: Legislation strengthening the Knesset's own authority.

Court can strike lawsKnesset can override

Economyparty lineWork should always pay more than a benefit, and benefits should follow need rather than sector. Break the concentration groups and open parallel imports.

Social spendingFree market

Educationparty lineCore studies are the condition for full public funding, with a national council setting the core, while budget and authority devolve to town halls and to heads.

State runs the schoolsParents and communities

Religion & Stateparty lineCivil union institutionalised in Israel, Shabbat in the public space left to each locality, and women seated on religious councils and on the assemblies that elect rabbis.

Civil / pluralistReligious authority

Nation & Citizenshipparty lineA solid Jewish majority for generations, set beside equal rights, equal duties and equal opportunity for every Israeli, with minority rights named explicitly.

Equal citizenshipJewish national state

#2 on the slip →Yoram Cohen