Netanyahu’s emerging challenger represents his polar opposite, and that may be his appeal

(Tal Shalev – CNN) On the evening of June 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party posted four words on its official X account. “There is no Gadi without Tibi”. Accompanying the short message was an AI-generated, 11-second clip showing two politicians – Gadi Eisenkot and Ahmad Tibi – standing together before a parliament covered in dark clouds. “Eisenkot does not have a government without the Arabs,” the text at the end said, referencing Tibi, a prominent Arab lawmaker. The post underscored two fundamental elements of the party’s campaign ahead of parliamentary elections slated for late October. First, that Netanyahu will once again rely on the anti-Arab rhetoric that his party has employed for years. And second, that Israel’s former military chief Eisenkot is now seen as the main political threat to the country’s longest-serving leader. Eisenkot’s name may not yet resonate internationally, but in Israel, it has grown increasingly prominent, supplanting that of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as the main challenger to Netanyahu. An adviser to Netanyahu said they have 400 more videos about Eisenkot to release. Eisenkot’s Yashar party, “straight” or “honest” in Hebrew and founded less than a year ago, had been languishing in the single digits in most polls until recently. Now, most surveys show it running close to Likud and ahead of the joint list formed by Bennett and another former prime minister, Yair Lapid. – The former military chief now challenging Netanyahu for Israel’s top job | CNN