Israeli Press
Eisenkot says Netanyahu capitulated in Gaza without achieving the war's objectives
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief whose Yashar party leads Israel's election polls, accused Benjamin Netanyahu of surrendering in the Gaza agreement, the Israeli news site Ynet reported Thursday.
"After the heavy prices, the fallen soldiers and the wounded, he has capitulated in his political weakness without achieving the war's objectives," Eisenkot said of the disarmament roadmap President Trump announced. Likud fired back in kind, and the Jerusalem Post reported the exchange as a full campaign clash over the deal.
The numbers explain the heat. A Maariv poll found 54 percent of Israelis oppose the published roadmap against 24 percent who support it, while Jerusalem Post polling still projects Eisenkot's party as the Knesset's largest as the 27 October election approaches.
For Palestinian readers the exchange carries a hard message about that ballot. The leading challenger is not running against the war — he is running on the charge that Netanyahu ended it too cheaply, with Hamas left standing.
Whichever man wins, the campaign is being fought over who would have extracted more from Gaza, not over the occupation the vote will leave in place. The deal itself, both camps agree, is now the election's central question.
