Fighter. Leader. Unifier – Gadi Eisenkot

On Tuesday night more than 300 people packed an auditorium to hear Gadi Eisenkot make his case in person. He took more questions than his handlers had planned for, and answered them straight.

PART ONE  ·  האולם

The room

The banner at the entrance said it before anyone had taken a seat. Three words in white Hebrew sat above a portrait of a man in a dark shirt with the flag behind him: Lohem! Manhig! Me’ached! Fighter. Leader. Unifier.

Inside, the auditorium in Ramat HaSharon filled fast. More than 300 people took every seat, then the aisles, then the back wall. There were retirees who remember when chiefs of staff were national figures, not partisan targets, and reservists who have spent three years in and out of uniform. A man in a knitted kippah sat a few rows from volunteers in black Yashar! T-shirts.

A packed house rises as Eisenkot enters, with press photographers at the foot of the stage.

When Gadi Eisenkot came down the steps into the hall, people stood. Phones went up. The applause lacked the manufactured roar of a rally. It sounded like people who had been waiting for this.

The popular image of Eisenkot is the soldier’s soldier: gruff, understated, more at home in a briefing room than on a stage. That image undersells him badly. His charisma is the Gary Cooper kind. He doesn’t raise his voice or reach for applause lines. He stands tall, speaks plainly, and the room comes to him. He radiated confidence and a complete command of the issues.

He spoke about leadership and morals, and said flatly that the current government has neither and has to be replaced. He took on the Netanyahu bloc’s favorite claim, that Israel has defeated Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Those fronts, and others, are still active. Declaring victory over enemies still firing at you is a weak argument, and he treated it as one.

He also had a number many in the room hadn’t heard. First-time voters, Israelis aged 18 to 21, will directly decide 17 seats in this election. This is the generation that has carried the war, and he is speaking to them directly.

It matters who is saying all this. Eisenkot rose from Golani infantryman to the IDF’s 21st Chief of the General Staff. After October 7 he sat in the war cabinet, and walked out when it became clear there was no plan for the day after. His son Gal and his nephew Maor fell in Gaza. When he talks about responsibility, nobody doubts that he knows its weight.

PART TWO  ·  המצע

What Yashar stands for

On the screen behind him, Yashar’s program appeared as a Star of David with one pillar at each point. The idea behind it is that security, the economy and national unity aren’t separate portfolios but one national project.

Security and service for all  ביטחון ושירות לכל

A new national-security doctrine, a stronger IDF and a state commission of inquiry into October 7. A National Service Law brings the Haredi community into the people’s army, and combat soldiers and reservists come first for rights and benefits.

Economy  כלכלה

The working middle class, young people and reservists at the center. Tax changes reward those who carry the burden, and housing benefits and daycare subsidies go to them first.

Education  חינוך

Deep roots in Jewish heritage, the Declaration of Independence as a civic compass, and real fluency in science, technology and AI.

Constitution and public service  חוקה ושירות ציבורי

Clean government, professional institutions and restored public trust, anchored in a constitution. It is the unfinished business of 1948.

Periphery and young people  פריפריה וצעירים

Closing the gap between the center and the rest of the country, and giving young Israelis a reason to build their lives here.

Aliyah and the return home  עלייה ושיבה הביתה

Full absorption from language to jobs, a “hybrid residency” model, an easier path home for Israelis abroad, and fast-track support for the families of lone soldiers.

The team behind the platform is as telling as the plan. Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen is No. 2 on the list. Former ministers Matan Kahana and Orit Farkash-HaCohen are on the slate, and the economic program was written by economist Shaul Meridor and Professor Manuel Trajtenberg. This isn’t a party built around a slogan. It is a government-in-waiting.

PART THREE  ·  ישר

The straight answer Israel needs

Yashar means straight, honest, direct. Last night the name stopped being a slogan.

When the speech ended, the questions began, and he kept taking them. He answered more than his handlers had planned for, and he didn’t duck the hard ones.

The hardest came from reservists. They asked what he would do about the burden they are carrying right now, rotation after rotation. A politician would have promised relief by spring. Eisenkot told them the truth: changing this will take time. Then he gave them the number behind it.

48%  

The share of the eligible population that serves in the IDF today, Eisenkot told the room. That situation, he said, is not sustainable.

That is the heart of Yashar’s “service for all.” It is not an attack on any community. It is arithmetic that the reservists in that room live every day.

The questions kept coming, and he answered every one:

IRAN

He left no doubt. Under his leadership, if Iran closes in on a nuclear weapon, Israel will act, and alone if it has to.

THE YOUNGER GENERATION

He answered by talking about first-time voters and why they matter so much in this election. The 18-to-21-year-olds who have carried this war will decide 17 seats.

NETANYAHU ON TIKTOK

He didn’t dismiss it. He knows TikTok is where young Israelis are, and he committed to being even more active there. One of his own posts has already drawn 1.5 million views.

ARAB CITIZENS AND A FUTURE GOVERNMENT

He started with the problem Arab Israelis feel most: crime in Arab communities is out of control, and his government would make bringing it down a priority. He noted that Arab citizens make up 30% of Israel’s medical personnel. The 21% of the population who are Arab, he said, need to be better integrated into the Israeli mosaic.

On who he would govern with, his test is the same for every party. He will sit with any party that meets his three conditions for any coalition partner: Israel as a liberal, Jewish and democratic state; a written constitution based on the Declaration of Independence; and national service by every sector of the population.

HASBARA

He didn’t pretend the problem was new. He said he knows Israel presents itself poorly to the world, that this has been true for years, and that his government would work to fix it.

No evasions. Just a man who knows the file and trusts the public with the truth. After years of leaders for whom responsibility always belongs to someone else, that alone is new.

The night didn’t end at the podium. He came down into the crowd, put his arm around shoulders, posed for photo after photo, and leaned in to listen to an older woman who had waited her turn to tell him something.

Top: Eisenkot with the author. Bottom: listening, one supporter at a time.

Yashar has led most recent polls, and with the team he has assembled, Eisenkot offers Israel something new and something better. Polls can move. What 300 people saw in Ramat HaSharon won’t.

“I’m going to govern for all Israelis.”

— Gadi Eisenkot, launching the Yashar! campaign, June 30, 2026

Fighter. Leader. Unifier. On October 27, Israel gets to choose a straight answer.