Eisenkot calls Gantz’s National Unity a ‘failure’ days after bolting party

By Ariela Karmel

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25 July 2025, 7:05 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

L: MK Gadi Eisenkot attends a National Unity faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 26, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90); R: National Unity Party Leader MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot says the opposition National Unity party, which he helped found, is a failure.

Eisenkot makes the comment in an interview with Yediot Ahronoth published Friday, days after he formally left the party led by his predecessor as IDF chief, Benny Gantz.

“In hindsight, the idea was excellent, but the execution was a failure. I take one-third of the blame for that,” says Eisenkot, adding that he shares responsibility alongside Gantz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, whose New Hope faction left the National Unity alliance last year and joined the government months later.

Eisenkot, who was No. 2 in Gantz’s centrist Blue and White faction, recently quit both the faction and Knesset, stating that while he and Gantz worked together for many years and still respect each other, their differences eventually drove them apart politically.

“Of course, I support unity and solidarity, but I also support making decisions and taking a stance,” says Eisenkot, pointing to what he describes as a lack of willingness to build democratic institutions within the party and to establish primaries.

“When I saw the party wasn’t aiming to be a real governing alternative to replace Netanyahu… I thought that was a mistake,” he says.