Following Israel\u2019s tight election, the opposition leader and famed military strategist now faces a tactical quandary
\n TEL AVIV
\nAs the head of Israel\u2019s Northern Command in the late 2000s, Gen. Gadi Eisenkot was a principal architect of what has become the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 most fearsome and brutal strategy \u2014 the Dahiya Doctrine, which calls for exerting overwhelming, disproportionate force on civilian areas where the enemy operates.
\n\u201cWe will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel and cause immense damage and destruction,\u201d he told an Israeli newspaper in 2008, describing operations underway against Hezbollah in the Beirut suburbs and south Lebanon. \u201cFrom our perspective, these are military bases.\u201d
\nYears later, as the military chief of staff, however, Eisenkot built a reputation as an advocate for operational precision and restraint, and for adherence to the IDF\u2019s code of ethics and judicial system.
\nNow, as the leader of the Israeli political opposition bloc and the man best positioned to dislodge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Eisenkot, 66, faces a tactical quandary on an entirely different scale.
\nTo form a government, will he join forces with the Arab parties that won a record number of votes in Tuesday\u2019s election, though this is seen as a taboo for much of the Israeli electorate?
\nIn a way this could provide maximum pressure, delivering up to 67 seats in parliament where 61 is needed for a majority. Or would he seek more precision and partner with just one Arab party, Ra\u2019am, which might be enough to build a minority government?
\nWill he cut a deal with ultra-Orthodox religious parties, even though he fiercely opposes their demands for blanket military exemptions? Or will he retreat from his demand that Netanyahu leave political life, and form a unity government that could infuriate Eisenkot\u2019s own base?
\nEisenkot has criticized Netanyahu and his charges of electoral fraud but otherwise said little since Tuesday\u2019s vote, in which Netanyahu lost his majority but retained the largest bloc in parliament \u2014 53 seats \u2014 compared with 48 for the opposition and 19 for the Arab parties.
\n\u201cThe public has chosen change,\u201d Eisenkot declared after the initial results were released, and he called on Netanyahu to step aside. \u201cA leader worthy of the name would accept the people\u2019s verdict and announce today that he is leaving political life.\u201d
\n\u201cMillions of Israelis have had enough of the culture of lies, enough of the failure, enough of the division and the incitement,\u201d he said. He added a direct warning to Netanyahu against using new military action as a basis for prolonging his now-caretaker government.
\n\u201cNetanyahu,\u201d he said, \u201cdo not dare use Israel\u2019s security for your own political ends.\u201d
\nEisenkot started election day visiting communities hit hardest in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, then stopped by the grave of his youngest son, Gal, who was killed at age 25 during a hostage rescue operation in Gaza, before going to vote in Herzliya, his hometown.
\nEisenkot is a security hawk, the son of Moroccan immigrants and father of four surviving children. Two of his nephews also were killed in the war.
\nHis party, Yashar, Hebrew for \u201cstraight\u201d or \u201chonest,\u201d won 21 seats, according to the official election results, compared with 27 for Netanyahu\u2019s Likud. Negotiations with the constellation of other parties that won seats could take weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following Israel\u2019s tight election, the opposition leader and famed military strategist now faces a tactical quandary TEL AVIV As the head of Israel\u2019s Northern Command in the late 2000s, Gen. Gadi Eisenkot was a principal architect of what has become the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 most fearsome and brutal strategy \u2014 the Dahiya Doctrine, which calls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n