Channel 14 Host Slams Israeli Media Praise for Gadi Eisenkot

Channel 14 presenter Yaara Zard sharply criticized what she described as the Israeli left’s favorable coverage of Gadi Eisenkot on Monday. She said that prominent writers and commentators were presenting him as the latest alternative to Benjamin Netanyahu.

Zard cited a column in Yedioth Ahronoth by Nahum Barnea calling Eisenkot a “national darling” and describing his profile. She also referred to Raviv Drucker’s writing in Haaretz, including the claim that “we deserve Eisenkot,” that he is “the most opposite thing to Netanyahu,” and a post in which Drucker said he hoped Eisenkot would become Israel’s next prime minister after Netanyahu.

According to Zard, this was “completely insane.” She argued that while critics accuse Netanyahu’s supporters of running a “poison machine,” the media itself is openly promoting a recurring “monkey of the hour,” as she put it, so long as it serves the “only not Bibi” line.

She concluded that this, in her view, shows how the Israeli media operates and said it is in no position to criticize Channel 14.