Gadi Eisenkot
Gadi Eisenkot, also spelt Eizenkot, is an Israeli general, politician and leader of the Yashar party. He served from 2015 to 2019 as the 21st chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and from 2023 to 2024 as a minister without portfolio in Israel's unity government. Eisenkot, who grew up in Eilat, pursued maritime studies and later served in the IDF's Golani Brigade. He holds a B.A. in history from Tel Aviv University and a post-graduate degree in political science from Haifa University. Married with five children, he resides in Herzliya. One of his sons, Gal, was killed in action during the Gaza war.
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Jun 12, 2026
Center
Eisenkot is cited in Ynet analysis as the antithesis of Netanyahu, generating renewed excitement in the centre bloc as elections approach.
For Yesh Atid supporters, Eisenkot represents the credible, security-grounded centrist alternative they want to coalesce around, and his rising profile intensifies pressure on Yesh Atid and other centre parties to unify rather than fragment the anti-Netanyahu bloc.