Gadi Eisenkot

Gadi Eisenkot served in the IDF from 1978 to 2019. He commanded the Golani Brigade in 1997-1998 and then Northern Command from 2006 to 2011. He then became the IDF's 21st Chief of Staff, from February 16, 2015, to January 15, 2019.

During his term, the IDF carried out a large-scale strike on Iranian targets in Syria in May 2018. It also conducted Operation "Northern Shield" against Hezbollah's cross-border attack tunnels, from December 2018 to January 2019.

Gadi Eisenkot was elected to the Knesset in 2022 on Benny Gantz's National Unity list. After the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, he joined the war cabinet as an observer.

His son, reserve Master Sergeant Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, was killed in Gaza on December 7, 2023, when an explosive went off in a tunnel during an operation to recover the bodies of a hostage and a soldier. The next day, his nephew, Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot, 19, was killed in combat in Khan Younis. A second nephew, Captain Yogev Pazy, 22, was killed on November 17, 2024, in northern Gaza. In total, three of his close relatives were killed during the war.

In January 2024, he distanced himself from talk of an "absolute defeat" of Hamas, which he saw as unrealistic, and called for a negotiated deal to bring the hostages home. He resigned from the war cabinet in June 2024. He said "external and political considerations" had long prevented him from making key decisions. He left the Knesset on July 2, 2025.

Gadi Eisenkot founded the "Yashar! with Eisenkot" party on September 16, 2025. It brings together people from tech, the economy and security.

Yashar's platform has four main points. First, universal conscription with no compromise: military, national or civilian service for everyone, including Haredim and Israeli Arabs. Only 3% of those called up each year would be exempt, reserved for exceptional talents in Torah, science, music or sports. Second, repealing the law that changed the makeup of the judicial selection committee, which the party says politicizes it. Third, rejecting any mechanism that would let the Knesset override Supreme Court rulings. Fourth, a firm refusal of any rotation government, a position he repeated on September 17, 2026.

He wants public funding for any school, including Haredi or Arab schools, to depend on teaching a core curriculum that includes math and English. He estimates that this education reform would take four years.