Eisenkot aims to out-hawk Netanyahu ahead of elections

Gadi Eisenkot, a leading Israeli politician hoping to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in elections later this month, pledged Thursday that he would “destroy Hamas’s military wing” within 18 months of taking office.

Eisenkot, a former chief of Israel’s general military staff, said the defeat of Hamas could come through “President [Donald] Trump’s framework” for disarming the group or “through the use of military and operational capabilities.”

Netanyahu’s Likud party struck back by claiming Eisenkot would require help from Arab parties to form a coalition government. “How would you destroy Hamas without getting permission from your partners, Mansour [Abbas] and [Ahmed] Tibi?" the party said, referring to two of Israel’s leading Arab politicians.

As Israelis prepare to go to the polls on October 27, Israel’s top candidates are working hard to out-hawk each other. Eisenkot and Netanyahu each lead parties expected to win just over 20 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. It remains unclear whether either of them will be able to form a majority coalition, particularly given their skepticism of working with Arab parties, which are expected to win 13 seats as of this writing.

Recent comments from both leading candidates provide a reminder that Israeli politics have moved rapidly to the pro-war right in recent years.

Even as American politicians maintain their commitment to a two-state solution, Eisenkot and Netanyahu are attempting to score political points by accusing their opponent of supporting a Palestinian state. “Benjamin is Palestine,” wrote Eisenkot in a recent X post, in which he slammed the prime minister for speaking “in favor of two states dozens of times” and for failing to destroy Hamas and Iran. Netanyahu, for his part, has said Eisenkot will “establish a Palestinian state before GTA 6 comes out,” referring to a popular video game set to launch next month.

The leading candidates also agree on the necessity of continued conflict with Iran. “Israel must do everything, including attacking Iran, to destroy its nuclear capability,” Eisenkot said this week.

Disagreements between Netanyahu and Eisenkot largely come down to domestic issues, including corruption and whether to expand conscription to the ultra-orthodox community, which has long provided a key base of support for Netanyahu’s Likud.

The near-total agreement on foreign policy reflects what Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman recently deemed Israel’s “‘new’ national security concept.” While Israel has not formally declared a change in its strategic perspective, Hayman argued that its actions since October 7 reflect a new approach that, among other things, rejects the idea of permanent peace with Arab states. “War is necessary, and preventive war is preferable because it secures a significant achievement at the outset,” Hayman wrote, paraphrasing the views of many of his colleagues in Israel’s national security sector.

Other notable aspects of this new national security concept include an emphasis on Israel’s Jewish character over its democracy; increased skepticism of the U.S.-Israel relationship; and embracing settlements and civilians as “part of the defense network,” according to Hayman, who is the executive director of Israel’s leading think tank.

These changes would make it particularly difficult for either Eisenkot or Netanyahu to form a government. In 2021, the government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid made history by forming a coalition with Mansour Abbas’ Raam party, which became the first ever Arab party to join an Israeli government. But after three years of bitter war, there is little reason to believe such a bloc could form once more, leaving open the possibility that neither side will be able to form a majority coalition.