Eisenkot calls Netanyahu a ‘pathalogical liar’ engaged in a ‘forever war as a tool for political survival’

Gadi Eisenkot, the main rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in next month’s general election, blasts the premier as a “pathological liar, in Hebrew and English,” who has instilled a “culture of dishonesty” in the Israeli public discourse.

The Yashar party leader is asked about comments he made in the tail end of his term as IDF chief in January 2019 backing the transfer of Qatari money to Gaza, for which he is now assailing Netanyahu, and says the one transfer he oversaw in November 2018 “went smoothly,” with all the money verifiably reaching its recipients. Reports at the time indicated that the recipients of the $15 million payment, which Qatar’s envoy to Gaza brought into the enclave in suitcases stuffed with US dollars, had been civilians in need and also Hamas’s civilian authorities to pay its civil workers.

He argues that he learned two years ago that later in 2019, after his term ended, the Shin Bet warned that Hamas’s military wing had taken over $4 million out of a Qatari transfer of $15 million and recommending halting the payment system, but Netanyahu decided to continue it for years, effectively propping up the terror group.

“This is an utterly unreasonable decision, or there is some secret thing I’m not aware of. This must be investigated,” he claims.

Eisenkot sidesteps repeated questions about public comments he made in 2024 that backed a diplomatic agreement to end the war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group — before the operation to blow up thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies held by Hezbollah members — claiming that behind closed doors he had urged Netanyahu to carry out a fuller pager operation he had overseen preparations for, but the premier objected.

“That’s Netanyahu’s whole problem. He belittles the value of strategy, he extends the war [and] he views a forever war as a tool for political survival.”