The Israeli politicians seeking to replace Netanyahu
On September 26, five leading members of Israel’s self‑styled Zionist opposition signed a non‑aggression pact, aiming to unseat incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in the October 27 election. The meeting took place at the Tel Aviv home of opposition leader Yair Lapid. Present were his co‑runner, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who leads the Beyachad list; former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, head of the newly formed Yashar party; Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party; and Avigdor Liberman, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu party.
In the statement of principles released after the hours‑long discussion, the leaders said, “Despite ideological differences among us, the formation of a Zionist, statesmanlike government dedicated to repair and reconstruction is our shared overarching goal.” However, the durability of that pact remains uncertain. Liberman has already accused frontrunner Eisenkot of seeking a deal with Netanyahu, and questions linger about how substantive any change in style or policy would be, as well as who might ultimately lead a future coalition.
From left, Israeli opposition leaders Yair Lapid, Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman meet on September 26, 2026 [Courtesy of Yair Lapid via X]
With the exception of Golan, all of the figures adopt a fundamentally right‑wing stance on Israel’s challenges. None of them is committed to establishing a Palestinian state, although the Democrats acknowledge it as a distant, unspecified goal. None, Golan included, accepts that Israel’s war on Gaza constitutes genocide or that it has committed war crimes in the killing of more than 74,000 people there. Furthermore, none has questioned Israeli military actions against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Qatar or Iran, instead reserving criticism mostly for how those actions affect Israel’s international image.
“The dominant forces in the opposition such as Bennett, Liberman or Eisenkot represent right‑wing politics,” said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London. “They are not willing to touch the real, fundamental issue which is at the heart of everything: the Palestinian issue, and the Palestinian aspirations for independence.” He likened them to Netanyahu, but without the corruption allegations and the support of far‑right figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “Israel as a whole is a right‑wing nation,” he added.
So, who are the main opposition figures and what do their parties stand for?
Gadi Eisenkot – Yashar
Credited with originating the Dahiyeh Doctrine in 2008, which called for “disproportionate force” and large‑scale destruction of civilian infrastructure against groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, Eisenkot served as Israeli military chief from 2015 to 2019. The 66‑year‑old entered politics in 2022 alongside former Defence Minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity alliance and later joined the war cabinet assembled by Netanyahu after the Hamas‑led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. In December of that year, his son Gal, aged 25, and two nephews were killed while participating in the Gaza conflict, losses commentators say have helped forge a connection with an electorate that sees itself as scarred by war. In June 2024, he quit the war cabinet alongside Gantz, accusing Netanyahu of lacking a strategy to end the war. A year later, Eisenkot founded the centrist Yashar (Straight/Honest) party, advocating for professional government, universal military service – including for ultra‑Orthodox Jews – and a state commission of inquiry into the failings before October 7. While notoriously ambiguous on many foreign policy positions, he has criticised the government’s reliance on the United States to achieve its war aims, without questioning those aims themselves. In June, he described Washington’s mediated negotiations with Tehran to end the war against Iran as “a deal taking shape far from here and far from Israeli interests,” and in the same month