Eisenkot Targets Likud Strongholds to Sway Voters or Keep Them Home

The 2026 election campaign is seeing a fierce battle for votes in cities and towns with a high concentration of voters of Eastern origin, traditionally loyal to the Likud party. This year's campaign is based on the assumption that a significant portion of the Likud electorate is wavering, especially after the October 7th events and debates over ultra-Orthodox conscription. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, National Unity Party Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, have identified key cities to boost voter turnout. Eisenkot's campaign calls these "40 golden cities," including Eilat, Dimona, Beersheba, Netanya, Hadera, Afula, and Holon. Special focus is on Eilat, where Eisenkot grew up, with a substantial campaign budget allocated there. The campaign also targets development towns, historically considered Likud territory, but now sees Eisenkot, the only prime ministerial candidate of Eastern origin, making a play for these voters. His party recently launched campaign posters in Moroccan Arabic reading "Our Prime Minister." Eisenkot's campaign believes that while he may not win over Likud supporters, he doesn't alienate them and even garners sympathy among right-wing voters. The primary goal is to convince voters of Eastern origin that he poses no threat, potentially leading them to stay home rather than vote for Netanyahu. Eisenkot is concluding a tour of these 40 cities, aiming to reach undecided voters and potentially sway them. Efforts are also underway to gain the votes of religious Zionists, with Eisenkot holding meetings in Givat Shmuel. In contrast, liberal cities with strong support for the "change bloc" have seen minimal campaign investment. Eisenkot's campaign anticipates that low turnout in peripheral cities and high turnout in liberal areas could lead to his victory, though they acknowledge the difficulty. On election day, Tuesday, October 27th, most activists will be deployed to peripheral cities, with minimal staff in Tel Aviv. Likud is also campaigning in these peripheral areas, but their strategy against Eisenkot is more restrained than in past elections. Instead of personal attacks, their main message is that Eisenkot would "form a government with Arab parties," as reflected in slogans like "Right or Palestine." A senior Likud official noted that while many right-wing voters won't vote for Eisenkot, they view him positively due to his background, making personal attacks risky. Despite this, some Netanyahu advisors have released videos mocking Eisenkot's English, and a Likud Knesset candidate claimed he "doesn't read books." A particularly impactful incident involved a TV host calling Eisenkot a "monkey" and suggesting he was an Ashkenazi-controlled Moroccan candidate. This ethnic framing has inadvertently boosted Eisenkot, as the ethnic factor becomes more prominent. Likud's own politicians of Eastern origin are not being prominently featured, to avoid contradicting the campaign's goals. "The use of the ethnic theme has become a difficult task for Likud," stated a senior official from the change bloc, noting that Eisenkot is perceived by these voters as "one of their own" and they cannot bring themselves to hate him. The official believes Likud has yet to find an effective counter-strategy, and the turnout in peripheral cities will determine if a historic shift is occurring, not necessarily in vote transfer, but in the right-wing electorate's perception of the change bloc candidate as non-threatening and their reduced obligation to vote against him.