Eisenkot's Yashar Leads Polls Ahead of Israel's October 27 Election

Israelis head to the polls on October 27 to choose the 26th Knesset, and one of the parties drawing the most attention is Yashar, a centrist list led by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. Founded in September 2025, it currently tops the polls and has made Eisenkot the leading challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Eisenkot entered politics in August 2022, taking third place on the National Unity list, an alliance of Benny Gantz's Blue and White and Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope. He had at first ruled out serving under Netanyahu, but he and Gantz joined the emergency government after the October 7 massacre. Gantz sat in the war cabinet while Eisenkot was an observer. Both quit in June 2024, saying Netanyahu was not making the strategic decisions needed to meet the war's goals.

In July 2025 Eisenkot left National Unity and resigned from the Knesset, saying the party lacked a transparent and democratic way of choosing candidates. Two months later he launched Yashar with former politicians, senior security figures and other public figures. Polls project the party, which did not exist in the previous Knesset, winning roughly 21 to 23 seats.

Security sits at the center of its platform. Yashar treats Iran as an ongoing strategic threat, and Eisenkot favors a lasting, verifiable settlement of the nuclear issue. If diplomacy fails, he has floated US-enforced restrictions around remaining enriched-uranium sites and broader covert action against Iran's missile capabilities. On Gaza, the party wants Hamas replaced while Israel keeps a security corridor, with reconstruction moving step by step alongside partial disarmament. Earlier this month Eisenkot pledged to destroy Hamas's military wing and dismantle its leadership within 18 months. In Lebanon he backs a security zone and wants greater American and French involvement against Hezbollah.

Eisenkot opposes a Palestinian state, though he told The Jerusalem Post he would consider the Palestinian Authority preferable to continued Hamas rule if those were the only options. He also said he would return Civil Administration responsibilities to military coordination and restore military coordination of policing in the West Bank.

At home, the party stresses military service reform and living costs. It opposes blanket exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, community, proposing sanctions for evasion and benefits for those who serve. Yet it would allow a Torah-study exemption for 3% of each annual haredi cohort, which opposition rivals demanding no exemptions have criticized. A September youth plan proposed a 15% pay rise for conscripts and a 50% increase for combat soldiers in their third year.

Economist and candidate Shaul Meridor said the party's economic policy centers on the working middle class, young people and those who serve. He outlined tax changes rewarding those who carry the economic and security burden, along with priority in housing assistance and daycare subsidies, though no full tax schedule has been specified. The party also wants to challenge exclusive import arrangements and lower barriers in concentrated markets such as groceries and cosmetics.

Politically, a vote for Yashar is most likely a vote to help Eisenkot build a coalition with Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad, Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan's Democrats. The four have agreed to coordinate campaigning and prepare principles for a future government, but have not decided how the bloc's prime ministerial candidate would be chosen. Eisenkot wants the leader of the largest party to get the role and rejects rotation. All four leaders have said they would unite behind an agreed candidate after the vote.

Eisenkot's conditions for partners include accepting Israel's Jewish and democratic identity, service obligations and the dismantling of Hamas. Those terms exclude the Arab parties Ra'am and the Joint List and likely Shas and United Torah Judaism. If the bloc falls short of 61 seats, it would need more partners or outside support. Haredi parties that accept service reform offer a conditional opening, though his allies' red lines could complicate it. The decisive test is whether he can assemble 61 seats while keeping the promises that drew voters to him.