Can he beat him?
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he → beat → him
David M. Halbfinger, Natan Odenheimer and Johnatan Reiss
AI generated
HAIFA, Israel – Gadi Eisenkot does not speak like a politician.
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Eisenkot → speak → politician
He runs through his plans matter-of-factly, like a commander spelling out a mission to his troops.
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He → run → troops
It is an unusual style of campaigning, and scarcely electrifying; he does not so much appeal to voters as state what he sees as the obvious.
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he → appeal → obvious
But for Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief and the leading candidate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oct 27 election, it reflects who he is, how he approaches leadership and how serious he believes Israel’s problems have become.
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problems → lead → leadership
It also reflects the grief he felt as father to a son killed two months into Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip – grief that was on vivid display when he delivered a eulogy on national television.
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he → reflect → television
Eisenkot, 66, says he is running to “save Israel”.
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he → say → Israel
In his view, Netanyahu has embroiled Israel in forever wars, destroyed its international standing and decimated its support in the United States.
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Netanyahu → embroil → States
He has pushed the country toward authoritarianism, Eisenkot argues, and turned segments of society against one another.
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Eisenkot → push → one
Extremist Jews are marauding through Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
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Jews → maraud → Bank
Organised criminals are killing Arab citizens.
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criminals → kill → citizens
Army reservists are called up again and again because ultra-Orthodox Israelis dodge the draft.
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Israelis → call → draft
And Netanyahu has not accepted responsibility for the security failures that led to the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
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that → accept → attack
It is the avoidance of responsibility that offends Eisenkot most.
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that → offend → Eisenkot
When Israeli passengers overpowered the co-pilot of a flydubai jet who attacked the captain and tried to crash the plane, Eisenkot noted with disdain, Netanyahu milked the moment for a photo opportunity.
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Netanyahu → overpower → opportunity
But when it became clear that Israeli security failures had nearly cost passengers their lives, he let underlings address the criticism.
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underlings → become → criticism
Eisenkot now calls Netanyahu an “anti-leader”.
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Eisenkot → call → -
“I was taught, and it’s how I conducted myself throughout my military service: When things go well, put the people who made it happen out front,” he said on a podcast days later.
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he → teach → podcast
“When things go wrong, step forward and take responsibility.
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things → go → responsibility
“This election,” he told The Times of Israel, “is a choice between responsibility and running away from responsibility.
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he → tell → responsibility
The question, as Eisenkot’s lead over Netanyahu has dwindled, is whether Israelis will entrust someone who has served only part of one term as a lawmaker and eight months as a minister – and has never stood up to global pressure – with the country’s biggest responsibility of all.
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who → dwindle → all
Election framed around character
Eisenkot, who is refusing interviews with foreign news organisations, could not be less like the incumbent.
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who → frame → incumbent
Where Netanyahu grew up in Jerusalem’s Ashkenazi elite, Eisenkot is a product of Israel’s long-neglected periphery: born in Tiberias, in the north, to Moroccan immigrants; raised in working-class Eilat, in the south.
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Eisenkot → grow → south
He would be the first Mizrahi to become prime minister.
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He → become → ?
That could help him: Mizrahim, descended from Middle Eastern or North African Jews, make up roughly half of Israel’s Jews and much of Netanyahu’s political base.
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Mizrahim → help → base
The two men also approach work very differently.
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men → approach → work
Netanyahu is known to drag out decisions and manoeuvre for immediate advantage.
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Netanyahu → know → advantage
“He’d say Thursday that he’d annex the West Bank, to get good results in the Friday evening TV, and then Sunday he’d say, ‘There are some limits,’ or ‘I’ll do it next week,’” said Yoav Horowitz, Netanyahu’s chief of staff from 2016 to 2019, who is writing a plan for Eisenkot’s first 100 days.
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who → say → days
Gadi looks and works strategically, even though sometimes it hurts him.”
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it → look → him
Eisenkot, a career military officer, also has developed a reputation for straight talk.
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Eisenkot → develop → talk
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that Eisenkot, whom Barak chose as his military secretary when he defeated Netanyahu in 1999, would restore “trust and truth” to the premier’s office.
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he → say → office
“In this regard, Eisenkot is a towering figure compared to Netanyahu,” Barak said.
“And it’s a great Jewish tikkun” – a repair, or correction – “to everything Israel has done,” he added.
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he → tower → everything
“Gadi will not be so eloquent,” he said, but he will also “not be the person other leaders are recorded talking about as a liar”.
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leaders → say → liar
Nothing looms larger in what drives Eisenkot than his bereavement.
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what → loom → bereavement
In December 2023, the youngest of his five children, Gal, 25, a reservist, was killed in Gaza in a tunnel explosion.
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youngest → kill → explosion
Thousands attended the funeral.
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Thousands → attend → funeral
Many more watched on TV as Eisenkot choked up eulogising his son.
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Eisenkot → watch → son
The day of the funeral, a nephew of Eisenkot’s was killed in Gaza.
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nephew → kill → Gaza
Another nephew was killed 11 months later.
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nephew → kill → ?
Now, Eisenkot says in his raspy voice, he hopes to be “worthy of the enormous price paid” by his son.
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he → say → son
…and 57 more, not listed.
The Aporia
