Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot undecided on entering politics

• Date: 06 December 2020
• Published date: 06 December 2020
• Author: GIL HOFFMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Eisenkot is considered the only game-changer outside of politics who could make a difference for a party. He is being wooed by several parties, including MK Moshe Ya'alon's Telem Party, Yesh Atid, Blue and White and possibly the Likud.

Ya'alon, also a former chief of staff, said over the weekend that Eisenkot would be his number two in Telem, which would run separately from Yesh Atid, but he later backtracked and said nothing was final. Ya'alon's intention is to move over enough votes from the parties who could join a coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the anti-Netanyahu camp to prevent him from forming the next government.

"I have received overtures from many parties, and I meet and speak to all of them," Eisenkot said in a private conversation revealed exclusively by Yediot Aharonot political correspondent Yuval Karni on Sunday. "Nothing has been settled yet. The decision on whether to enter politics and with whom will be [made] only when Election Day is set."

Asked what his main consideration would be, he said "whether I can make a difference, have influence and bring about significant change. It is not a matter of roles and what place I would be on a list."

The newspaper quoted a source close to Eisenkot saying that the chances of him entering politics are "51%-49% one day...