Aisenkot’s Rise Complicates Bennett’s Bid to Lead the Center-Right Bloc

According to a report by Nadav Elimelech on i24NEWS, aides around Yisrael Beytenu? No, around Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party, relayed a message to the campaign team of Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett’s Together party: stop urging Eisenkot to join under Bennett. The warning comes as both camps are reassessing strategy after Eisenkot’s recent gains in the polls.

In Bennett’s circle, the former prime minister’s allies say pressure on the former IDF chief, Eisenkot, has barely begun. The latest i24NEWS seat poll showed Yashar! rising by one seat to 17, enough for second place, while Together, led by Bennett and Lapid, fell by two seats to 12 compared with last week’s i24NEWS survey.

Michael Shemesh reported that Bennett has been saying in closed-door talks that Channels 12 and 14 have joined forces to promote Eisenkot, in his view because Likud wants to cast Eisenkot as Benjamin Netanyahu’s main challenger since he is a more convenient rival. Bennett argues that he is a man of the right and that only a right-wing figure can bring the government.

Bennett also says Likud’s negative campaign against Eisenkot over the past week has actually boosted him significantly, and he accuses some parties of helping that effort.