Eisenkot must beat Netanyahu at his own game, not repeat Gantz's mistakes - opinion

Jerusalem Post/OpinionNetanyahu lost ground, but the opposition failed to win. Eisenkot must play hardball as details emerge of a missed merger with Bennett.Follow us on GoogleIllustrative image of Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot(photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90, NOAM MOSKOVITZ/KNESSET, YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)OCTOBER 31, 2026 12:34Gadi Eisenkot must beat Benjamin Netanyahu at his own game. He must do to Bibi what Bibi would have done to him if the roles were reversed. He must not become Benny. In other words, he must not repeat the mistakes Benny Gantz made during his disastrous adventures with Netanyahu. He must exact a price. He must play ruthless poker. To do that, Eisenkot needs Avigdor Liberman, Naftali Bennett, and Yair Lapid. I cannot believe this has not happened yet, but if these gentlemen do not come to their senses soon, get together, and establish a task force, my only conclusion will be that they are spitting in their voters' faces.To all those who love this country and believe it must be saved from the opportunistic, messianic, Bibi-worshipping, post-Zionist coalition, I say: Hold your heads high. Many of you have sunk into depression, and the familiar refrain has returned: "We need to find somewhere else in the world because we cannot go on living here." Let's start with the elections. It is simply not true that we accomplished nothing. We did. We accomplished a great deal. The proof is the jihadist campaign launched in recent days by Netanyahu and his servants to have the elections annulled. If he won, why does he want to cancel the elections? If the result was so favorable, why is he fighting it?He did not win. Neither did we, but it is important to understand that the opposition bloc received roughly a quarter of a million more votes than in the previous election, after adjusting for natural population growth. Netanyahu's bloc received 72,000 fewer votes than last time. The coalition collapsed from 68 seats in the outgoing Knesset to 53 in the incoming Knesset. Is it any wonder that it wants to annul the incoming Knesset?True, the opposition bloc failed to reach 61 seats and did not secure more seats than Netanyahu's bloc. Still, we must remember that Netanyahu's bloc also contains a distinctly post-Zionist element: Of the 13 seats held by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties in the next Knesset, at least 10 are non-Zionist. In other words, the opposition bloc has a Zionist majority. That is a fact. It cannot be denied. You cannot take that fact to the grocery store or use it to form a government, but it is important to recognize it.What could have been done differently? Everything. We will never know. There were quite a few fateful decision points at which the parties chose one path over another. Could they have taken a different path and won? We will never know. For example, on the eve of the deadline for submitting electoral lists, Eisenkot and Bennett discussed the possibility of merging into a joint list.Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett meet to discuss the future of Israel's government, October 29, 2026. (credit: VIA WALLA)The Bennett-Eisenkot merger that never happenedThe two held two dramatic meetings, attended by senior members of their teams. Polling data was presented. Bennett pushed for a merger. His support was sliding dangerously toward single digits. He asked to be No. 2 on the list, to serve as finance minister, and to be responsible for artificial intelligence in the government. His demands were reasonable. Eisenkot considered the proposal, examined it, and refused.A poll was presented at the meetings, and even the possibility of the two parties swapping their positions was raised. According to Eisenkot's associates, they had two more potential "stars" who could join the list. At the time, they believed Eisenkot could reach 27 or even 28 seats. In the end, the merger did not happen. Neither did the 28 seats.Was Eisenkot's rise halted by his comments about forming a minority government? We will never know. Was the failure to merge with Bennett what prevented a victory? We will never know that either. The polls conducted at the time projected 31 or 32 seats for a joint list. In the election, the two ran separately and won 33 seats between them. And that is without factoring in what the poison machine would have done to a united party.The fatal mistake of the Bennett-Lapid mergerAnother pivotal event was the merger between Bennett and Lapid. On this, there can be no argument: It was a fatal mistake born of panic. The moment that merger took place, Bezalel Smotrich climbed above the electoral threshold, and Bennett lost the ability to attack Netanyahu from the right. The article I wrote here at the time, arguing that the Hungarian model should be adopted and the opposition should unite behind the right-wing candidate, Bennett, to defeat Netanyahu, did not stand the test of reality and never will. The right-wing candidate turned left.Still, no one can take away from Bennett what he accomplished after making that turn. The campaign he led in the streets, town squares, and cafés was heroic. He managed to halt the collapse and defy what had almost become his predetermined fate: starting with more than 20 seats and finishing with six. He managed to reverse the trend, stop the bleeding, and begin growing again. The final result was disappointing relative to expectations, but Bennett survived.Follow us on Google