ISRAEL VOTES: Who Are You, Gadi Eisenkot? - with Nadav Eyal

**Dan Senor** (0:03)
Hi, it's Dan Senor. Israel is heading into one of its most consequential election. And this time, the whole world is watching closely. Hot takes and daily noise are pretty much guaranteed to populate your media diet. But as with any election, there's a deeper story about identity, religion, democracy and what kind of country Israelis want to live in.
That's why Ark Media launched Israel Votes, a special initiative across Call Me Back, For Heaven's Sake and Ark News Daily. You'll hear from the leading candidates shaping the race, along with analysis and reporting from two of Israel's leading political analysts, Ark Media contributors, Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal.
Join us for Israel Votes, your front row seat to the election that could define Israel's future. Go to arkmedia.org/votes to watch and listen. See you there.

**Nadav Eyal** (1:08)
You are listening to an Ark Media podcast.
Why does Eisenkot still have a chance? Because Israel is now fighting its longest war. And Eisenkot is a former chief of staff who's considered a mainstream officer and politician, a mainstream Zionist, who again made the highest of sacrifices during this war, and his family made that sacrifice. And people know that he's not corrupt, he's not considered a liar, and that's a lot in Israel these days. And because of that, he does stand a chance. But it's no more than a chance.

**Dan Senor** (1:58)
8 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10th, here in New York City. It is 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10th, in Israel, as one Jerusalem resident, Helen Ament Senor, celebrates her birthday, as we call her Safdakhanah, or as she's called in the family, the mate, short for the matriarch.
Israel is heading into an election, and a surprising candidate has been rising in the polls. He's not loud or controversial. He's not a former minister or prime minister. He's not a TV personality or a tech entrepreneur, and perhaps that's in part what many Israelis find so compelling about him. Gadi Eisenkot did not grow up in the center of Israel, places like Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. He grew up in Eilat. He's the son of Moroccan immigrants. He climbed through the brigades and regiments of the IDF the hard way, and he became chief of staff. He also lost his son and his nephew in the Gaza War, and he is now, according to just about every poll, the most popular figure in Israeli public life. And yet, the question that hangs over him is the same one that has haunted just about every army general who ever tried to make the leap to electoral politics. Does he have the killer instinct? Now, that may be an odd question to ask of a man who spent much of his adult life in the army, but the track record of Israeli generals going into a different kind of rough and tumble, rough and tumble of politics, of Israeli politics, no less, which can be especially ugly. That is the question. Does Gadi Eisenkot have all the skills and the stomach for politics? Nadav Eyal has covered Gadi Eisenkot for years. He knows him. He's written a profile of him titled The Quiet General, and he has been tracking his rise in real time.
Today, we ask the question the title demands. Who are you Gadi Eisenkot? Nadav, thanks for being here.

**Nadav Eyal** (3:51)
Thanks for having me, Dan.

**Dan Senor** (3:53)
You wrote in your newsletter, which we'll link to in the show notes, that, and I quote here, a shift from Bennett to Eisenkot is solidifying. And on Inside Call Me Back, you recently said to me that he's picking up between half a seat and a seat every week in the polls, meaning the polls projecting how he would do if an election were held now, how his party would do, was just growing and growing. So, first of all, do you think it's real and do you think it's durable?

**Nadav Eyal** (4:20)
I think the rise is definitely real and as to durable, look, this electorate specifically, the center-left electorate in Israel is very famously fickle. But the bottom line is that the jury is still out as to how much will it solidify to him to be in actual advantage as to Bennett and actually cross that threshold of being stronger than Bennett in the polls. Right now, the seats, according to the Channel 12 News poll that he's getting, are 19 seats out of 120 Bennett is getting 21
But in terms of who the public wants as prime minister, Eisenkot has just passed very narrowly, Prime Minister Netanyahu, just in a few points. Now, his main competitor isn't Netanyahu, although Eisenkot gives the impression through his campaign that he's fighting against Netanyahu. Right now, he is really fighting for the leadership of the anti-Netanyahu bloc.