Former Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern makes widely expected jump to Eisenkot’s Yashar

Eisenkot praises ex-IDF manpower chief as ‘outspoken voice for universal service’; Stern says he strives for society ‘where everyone takes part and bears responsibility for its future’

By ToI Staff 24 August 2026, 11:32 am

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Former Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern (left) shakes hands with Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, in an image published on August 24, 2026. (Gadi Eisenkot/X)

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party announced on Monday the addition of Elazar Stern, a longtime lawmaker who left Yesh Atid last week and had been widely expected to join the former IDF chief’s new faction.

Stern “comes with rich experience as a minister, Knesset member and IDF general,” Eisenkot said of the newest addition to his electoral slate, ahead of the October ballot dominated by the question of the drafting of Haredi men into the military. “Over the years he has been an outspoken voice for universal service, a people’s army and statesmanship.”

In a statement, Stern praised Eisenkot as a trustworthy leader.

“For my entire public life I believed leadership starts with service, with responsibility and personal example,” Stern said.

“I want to live in a country in which everyone feels proud to be Jewish, and in the same breath always remember the foundation of ‘Beloved is a man who was created in His image’ — a Jewish, democratic, and liberal state that connects parts of society and where everyone participates and bears responsibility for its future,” he said.

A Zman Yisrael poll on Thursday projected Yashar winning 23 Knesset seats, compared with 21 for Likud. Yashar has led most polls in recent weeks, though Likud frequently trails by only a small margin.

MKs Gadi Eizenkot (L) and Elazar Stern arrive for a meeting of the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem on October 9, 2023 (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Stern, a former head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate, was first elected to the Knesset in 2013 as part of the now-defunct Hatnua party.

Stern announced on August 14 that he was resigning from Yesh Atid, which has merged into the B’Yachad party headed by Naftali Bennett, and had indicated in recent interviews that he was likely to join Yashar.

In 2021, while serving as intelligence minister for Yesh Atid, Stern came under fire for comments suggesting that he had ignored sexual harassment complaints during his time as head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate. In response to the backlash, Stern dropped his candidacy for head of the Jewish Agency but remained a member of the Knesset.

Stern is among several political veterans and former senior officials who have joined Eisenkot’s party.