Israel Votes Tuesday as Ex-Military Chief Eisenkot's Yashar Party Polls Ahead of Netanyahu's Likud
Photo: The HinduIsrael holds national elections on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, with retired Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot's year-old centrist Yashar party polling ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud. One set of polls projects Yashar winning 20 of the 120 parliament seats, while others show a narrow lead. Yashar or Likud must assemble a 61-seat majority of parties to form a government. Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister. Eisenkot was born in Tiberias to a Moroccan Jewish family and raised from toddlerhood in Eilat. He served in the Golani infantry brigade and was IDF chief of staff from 2015 to 2019. He is known for the Dahiya doctrine, which advocates disproportionate force where militants operate and drew international condemnation. He criticized Netanyahu's strategy months after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. His campaign centers on opposing Netanyahu and ending prolonged wars. In Sderot, a Likud stronghold near the Gaza border with a large Moroccan Jewish community, Yashar posters carry a slogan mixing Hebrew and Moroccan Arabic. Likud won more than 40% of Sderot's vote in 2022, against 23% nationwide.
Right-leaning Fox News leads with Eisenkot as Netanyahu's leading challenger and stresses his decorated military career, Golani service and IDF chief post. It quotes journalist Yossi Melman calling him brave, humble and a soldier, and notes the 61-seat threshold. Its excerpt does not mention the Dahiya doctrine or the Sderot campaign. Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while alternative and right-leaning outlets had. The alternative outlets take distinct angles. The Hindu profiles his anti-Netanyahu strategy, the polling projection and the Dahiya doctrine. Deutsche Welle focuses on his Moroccan roots and the Sderot campaign. Both sides agree on his background, the party's poll lead and the election date. They differ in emphasis: résumé and expert praise versus campaign strategy and ethnic appeal.
How the sides differ Left sources have not covered it; right sources stress Eisenkot's military résumé and polling lead, while alternative sources focus on his anti-Netanyahu campaign and Moroccan-heritage appeal.
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Not covering this story. None of the left-leaning outlets Crosswire tracks has reported it yet. What one side leaves out can be as telling as what the others report.
The Hindu profiles Eisenkot's anti-Netanyahu campaign, the 20-seat projection and the Dahiya doctrine. Deutsche Welle reports from Sderot on his Moroccan-heritage appeal, citing Likud's past strength there.
Fox News leads with Eisenkot as Netanyahu's leading challenger, stressing his military résumé and narrow poll lead. It features journalist Yossi Melman's praise and says it consulted three experts.