Free Republic

When I first voted in an Israeli election as an 18-year-old student 30 years ago last Friday, I remember experiencing some culture shock. I was raised in America, where there were only two political parties. Here, I could choose among more than 20 parties... That culture shock was even greater since I come from Chicago, where there was actually only one party, the Democratic Party... The novelties of Israeli elections make them hard to explain in the United States, but our democracy is a key selling point that enables Americans to relate to us. Here are 10 possible election scenarios,...

Former IDF chief says ridicule over his English reflects prejudice against Mizrahi Israelis, asking where Netanyahu’s 'excellent English' was on Oct. 7. Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle of racism after a senior Netanyahu adviser shared a post mocking Eisenkot’s English, saying the attack reflected panic among the prime minister’s allies... “It is racist, and I despise them,” the former IDF chief said in an interview with “120 and One,” ynet’s Hebrew-language political podcast... Eisenkot, who is expected to challenge Netanyahu in the upcoming general election, said he had attended dozens of English-language meetings with...

Amid the fast-paced daily changes in the political sphere, one trend has remained consistent: the steady rise in support for Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot across recent polls. This trend of Eisenkot rising in the polls, and now coming close behind Bennett and Lapid, who trail Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, could soon make him the leader of the largest party in the opposition bloc... Leading a centrist party aiming to oust Netanyahu, Eisenkot presents himself as a unique candidate in the first election since the October 7 Hamas attacks. He appears to have a more reserved personality,...

Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, commander of Israel's northern front, has dropped a bombshell by disclosing that the anti-missile systems the defense industry has developed are intended to protect the country's military installations, not its cities and civilian population. "The residents of Israel shouldn't be under the illusion that someone will open an umbrella over the heads" in the event of a massive missile and rocket attack by Israel's enemies, he declared in a speech Sunday at the University of Haifa.