Former Israeli military chief, ex-PM: Benjamin Netanyahu’s top rivals in the Israeli elections

While Israel votes for parties and not candidates, there are some prominent figures who have emerged as front-runners for the prime ministerial post. As Israel heads to vote on October 27, a host of political figures, including an ex-prime minister and a former military chief, have positioned themselves as challengers seeking to replace Benjamin Netanyahu. While Israel votes for parties and not single candidates to enter the 120-seat Knesset, there are some prominent figures who have emerged as front-runners for the prime ministerial post.Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot from Yashar (left) and Israel’s minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit (right) are among Netanyahu's rival contenders. (Reuters)The key faces include Prime Minister Netanyahu from the Likud Party; former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot from Yashar; Israel’s minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit; Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party; and former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who announced a joint ticket in April, later named B'Yachad.Yair Golan from The Democrats, and Avigdor Lieberman from Yisrael Beiteunu are also in contention.The contest is one of the most significant ones, given that it is the first in four years and also the first since the October 2023 Hamas-led attack, following which Israel declared a war on Gaza that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians till now, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The contenders have alleged security failures leading to the October 2023 attack, and criticised Netanyahu’s handling of the wars with Gaza and Iran as well as West Bank settler violence.Also Read | JD Vance sidesteps Netanyahu's endorsement ahead of Israel elections, says Trump's backing ‘most influential’But first, how does Israel vote?The current electoral threshold in Israel is 3.25 per cent, meaning a political party must receive at least 3.25 per cent of the votes in order to gain a seat in the Knesset. The majority mark is 61 of the 120 seats, and no party has ever won this outright, meaning that all governments have relied on coalitions.Seat-sharing is on a proportional basis. Each party gets seats in proportion to their share in the national vote. For example, a party winning 30 per cent of the votes will get approximately 30 per cent of the seats. Meanwhile, the votes for parties which fail to secure 3.25 per cent of the votes are discarded.Netanyahu's rival contendersHere’s what we know about the candidates seeking to replace Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving premier, and their parties, along with the key issues they are fighting on.Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar)Known as Netanyahu’s biggest rival, Gadi Eisenkot, 66, is the chairman of Yashar (‘honest’ in Hebrew), a party he founded only last year.Military and political experience: Eisenkot is a former chief of staff of the Israeli military. Born in Tiberias in 1960 to a traditional family and then raised in Eilat, he enlisted in the Golani Brigade in 1978, where he served as a rifleman in Battalion 13 up to brigade commander.Gadi Eisenkot became the IDF's 21st chief of staff in 2015. (REUTERS)According to his party’s website, Eisenkot served 41 years in the IDF and held a series of key positions, including serving as military secretary to two PMs, being commander of the Judea and Samaria Division during the Second Intifada, as head of the operations directorate, as commander of the commander of Northern Command and finally as the deputy chief of staff.He became the IDF's 21st chief of staff in 2015. While in the IDF, he advanced the multi-year "Gideon" plan to improve the IDF's capabilities on land, in the air and sea. He was first elected to the Knesset in 2022, and served as a minister in the War Cabinet following the October 7, 2023 attack.Key issues: Eisenkot is a self-styled moderate, and has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu’s approach on aspects of the Gaza war. He is also a military realist, insisting two years ago that Israel was unlikely to win “total victory” over Hamas, and calling for a strategy which prioritised the lives of hostages, The Guardian reported. His son, Gal, and two of his nephews were killed in the Gaza conflict.Eisenkot has opposed the two-state solution, calling it “delusional” following the October 7, 2023 attack, Times of Israel reported.In the lead-up to the polls, he has maintained that his allies would need to agree that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, that military service is universal and that Hamas is a terrorist organisation which must be dismantled.Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid (B'Yachad )Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett (2021-22) and Yair Lapid (July-December 2022) announced a joint ticket in April this year, which was later named B'Yachad (“Together”). Bennett, 54, is poised to be prime minister if the party wins.Bennett, Lapid’s political career: Bennett’s political career began with the leader he is now seeking to replace, with him serving as Netanyahu’s chief of staff from 2006 to 2008. Netanyahu was then in the opposition.B'Yachad combines Bennett’s right-wing political background with Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party, (REUTERS)Bennett and Netanyahu won the Bayit Yehudi leadership in 2012, following which they held a coalition agreement that neither would join without the other. Bennett joined the Netanyahu-led coalition following the 2015 election, holding the post of education minister. He was appointed defence minister in 2019. However, he was out of Netanyahu’s government in 2020, and became the leader of a coalition government with Yair Lapid in 2021.Yair Lapid, 62, formed the Yesh Atid in 2012 after a career in journalism, with the party positioning itself as a secular, centrist, liberal-Zionist force. It focused on the concerns of working Israelis, the economic burden on the middle class, and greater equality in military service, according to The Jerusalem Post.In its first election in 2013, Lapid’s party won 19 seats and became Knesset’s second-largest party. Lapid also became finance minister in Netanyahu’s government. In the present Knesset too, Yesh Atid is the second-largest party, holding 24 seats, and Lapid serves as opposition leader. Lapid had served as the foreign minister and alternate prime minister in the government he formed with Bennett in 2021, which was dissolved in 2022.Also Read | Netanyahu warns future US president could be hostile to Israel, eyes close ties with IndiaPolitical stance and key issues: The party combines Bennett’s right-wing political background with Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party, according to The Jerusalem Post. Therefore, the party and its candidates offer an amalgamation of a right-wing security stance along with liberal positions on issues of religion and state. The party is contesting majorly on concerns around cost-of-living and Israel’s education system, thus putting forward a reforms-first approach.Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit)Itamar Ben-Gvir leads the Otzma Yehudit, which was once shunned as too extreme for mainstream politics, and has also pulled Netanyahu’s government further to the right since 2022, JNS reported.Political career and sanctions: A lawyer by profession, the 50-year-old has served as the minister of national security since 2022, except for a two-month gap in 2025. He first became a Knesset member in 2021, when his party unexpectedly won seven seats. Gvir, who has been accused of supporting terrorism and has criminal convictions for incitement to racism, has been sanctioned in the UK, France and others for backing the Gaza war.Itamar Ben-Gvir recently said he wants to form a government without Netanyahu, a culmination to tense relations between the two leaders for the past two decades. (Bloomberg)Key issues: Otzma Yehudit advocates the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, with its rallies also drawing extremist chants. In government, it has sponsored judicial reforms and the death penalty for Palestinians, and its junior ministers have discussed nuking Gaza, according to Middle East Eye.The party has campaigned on issues like personal security, Jewish sovereignty and tougher measures against terrorism. This will be the party’s first time running independently since it entered the Knesset.Gvir’s tense relations with Netanyahu: Gvir recently said he wants to form a government without Netanyahu, a culmination to tense relations between the two leaders for the past two decades.Gvir earlier this month claimed Netanyahu had promised European officials that he would keep his far-right Otzma Yehudit party out of his coalition if he wins reelection next week. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Ben Gvir said he had “received information about messages” from Netanyahu’s office making such a pledge, Times of Israel reported.Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party)Religious Zionist Party (RZP) leader Bezalel Smotrich is currently finance minister in the Netanyahu-led Israeli government. He has overseen massive state spending on settlement initiatives, the Associated Press reported.Key issues: Smotrich’s party supports an aggressive security policy, increasing settlements and solidifying Israeli control over the occupied West Bank. The party joined with farther-right Zehut (Identity) but is struggling to pass the threshold.Also Read | Arab voters could hold key to Netanyahu's future in Israel election46-year-old Smotrich, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, draws support from a more religious base than Ben-Gvir. (AFP)In 2022, it had a strong showing amid an electoral pact with Otzma Yehudit. However, both parties have now severed ties with Netanyahu’s Likud Party to run as competitors, despite the Israeli PM’s proposal for alliance.RZP backs military conscription for ultra-Orthodox communities, but has voted for Haredi-backed laws, such as stopping arrests of Haredi draft dodgers, while sitting alongside Haredi parties in Netanyahu’s coalition government.Support base: 46-year-old Smotrich, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, draws support from a more religious base than Ben Gvir, according to Middle East Eye. He has sought the implementation of Jewish law (halacha), and says Torah scripture has underpinned his strategy as finance minister since 2022.He also demands a judicial overhaul, the abolition of the Oslo Accords, the dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority, and the Israeli settlement of Gaza and the West Bank, while calling himself a “proud homophobe”.Yair Golan (The Democrats)Yair Golan is the leader of the Democrats, the party created through the unification of the two historic left-wing parties Labor and Meretz. In Israel's present political scenario, his is the only party which offers an explicitly Zionist, liberal and social-democratic alternative, The Jewish Chronicle reported.While this creates a separate identity for Golan, it also limits electoral appeal in a country which has moved sharply to the right in the past three years, particularly following the October, 2023 attack.Golan has personally argued for Israel to remain militarily adept while also seeking a framework which prevents permanent rule over Palestinians. (AFP)Personal life and political career: Golan, 64, was born in Rishon LeZion in 1962, and served in the IDF for nearly four decades. He joined the Paratroopers Brigade in the Israeli military, and rose up the ranks to command the Nahal Brigade, the Judea and Samaria Division, the Home Front Command and the Northern Command. Golan was eventually appointed chief of staff and was even in line to lead the IDF. His military career establishes him as a serious security figure, The Jewish Chronicle reported.Golan entered politics in 2019 through an alliance led by former PM Ehud Barak and later joined Meretz. However, in 2022, Meretz failed to cross the electoral threshold. He was catapulted to prominence following the October, 2023 attack, when the retired general drove independently into communities near Gaza and located and rescued survivors of Nova music festival. The festival was one of the sites targeted by Hamas. He then won the Labor leadership with 95 per cent of the vote in May, 2024, and united Labor with Meretz to form the Democrats party.Political stance on key issues: The Democrats party balances strong security posture along with support for renewed diplomacy. It calls for protection of judicial independence, civil equality, greater investment in public services and universal military or national service.Golan has personally argued for Israel to remain militarily adept while also seeking a framework which prevents permanent rule over Palestinians. This places him to the left of other major opposition parties.While Golan is not running for prime minister specifically, his party has signalled willingness to join any coalition replacing Netanyahu. Golan has also seemed open to cooperate politically with Arab parties and has campaigned in Arab communities, according to The Jewish Chronicle.Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu)Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party and a former minister, is an emigre from Soviet-era eastern Europe.. The 58-year-old's party, founded in 1998, is right-wing and relies on Israel’s 1.5 million Russian speakers for support, according to Middle East Eye.While the party has at its best become the third largest in elections, it has still been in coalition with seven of the last 10 governments in Israel.Lieberman was pivotal in turning Netanyahu into Likud’s dominant leader. (AFP)However, Lieberman has this time announced that he will not join or support a minority government. He has also ruled out sitting with Arab-majority parties or any other faction he considers non-Zionist, Times of Israel reported.Political career: Lieberman served as director-general of the Likud movement from 1993 to 1996. He was pivotal in turning Netanyahu, then a newly elected party leader, into Likud’s dominant figure. Netanyahu appointed Lieberman director-general of the Prime Minister's office after becoming the prime minister in 1996.However, three years later, Lieberman broke away to establish Yisrael Beiteinu. However, he has had close ties with Likud, even running on a joint ticket with Netanyahu in 2013.Key issues and poll strategy: Liberman is a hardline right-winger and a resident of the West Bank settlement of Nokdim. His views on security and Palestine almost align with those of the far-right ministers, including Ben Gvir and Smotrich. Lieberman has said that he plans to lure right-wing Knesset members away from Likud to reach the threshold to enter Knesset, claiming he knows several MPs from Netanyahu's party who feel the Israeli PM has made them subservient to the ultra-Orthodox parties, according to Times of Israel.He has also claimed to have support from first-time young voters, who he says will support the change bloc over the ruling coalition.Arya Mishra is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi, and a key member of the digital news team focusing on urgent breaking developments across India and the world. With a sharp editorial instinct and strong reporting skills, Arya covers high-impact crime incidents, public safety and justice issues, political developments, education policy and international affairs, consistently delivering clear, accurate and timely journalism. Her recent reporting highlights include detailed coverage of serious criminal cases, politics as well as analyses of national education reforms and international diplomatic moves. On the world news front, she has written about global trade policy changes and security developments, including tariff shifts by the United States and strategic counter-terrorism strategies being rolled out by Ministry of Home Affairs. Arya thrives in fast-paced environments – running live blogs, crafting in-depth explainers and real-time news coverage that keeps readers informed as stories evolve. Before joining Hindustan Times, she was a part of The Indian Express online team. Outside the newsroom, she is an avid reader, with a love for thriller and suspense fiction, and enjoys music as a way to unwind. With more than three years of experience in dynamic newsrooms, Arya brings curiosity, clarity and commitment to every story she covers.Read MoreIsraelElectionsBenjamin NetanyahuRivalGet the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times.