Eizenkot says defeating Netanyahu requires reaching the periphery, not a merger deal

Gadi Eizenkot, leader of the Yesh! party, discussed in private conversations why he has not joined forces with Naftali Bennett or Avigdor Lieberman, according to a report in Israel Hayom. He said the polls do not show that such a partnership would produce a decisive victory, and argued that beating Benjamin Netanyahu depends on winning support in Israel's periphery, not in Herzliya.

Eizenkot said that he, Bennett and Lieberman all see themselves as candidates for prime minister, but that they share a common goal of defeating the current government. “We are 120 days before the elections,” he said, adding that Netanyahu traditionally builds his coalition about 47 days before election day and uses that to create momentum. “There is no head to head with Bennett. We spoke yesterday, we texted today. We are talking. We see a common goal,” he said.

He also said he knows how to make decisions that serve the military and the state, and that what guides him is “how to win.” On Netanyahu, Eizenkot said a younger generation views him as the only familiar figure, but added that Netanyahu is “a very sophisticated person” and “a skilled politician” who chose him as IDF chief of staff. He said he has “tens of thousands of hours” of Netanyahu experience and that this is why “we need to defeat him.”

Eizenkot concluded that the path to victory is not to focus on Herzliya, where he lives, or Neve Monson, but to spend time in the periphery, where he says he knows what he can bring.