Eisenkot rules out power-sharing government with Netanyahu, appears to contradict his No. 2 over partnering with Smotrich

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “unfit to lead” due to his responsibility for and conduct surrounding the October 7, 2023, onslaught, flatly rejecting the possibility of serving in a power-sharing government in which they both get to serve as premier for part of the term.

Asked during an interview with Kan Radio this morning whether he would agree to a rotation agreement with Netanyahu, Eisenkot says: “Netanyahu was the supreme commander, according to his own words, on October 7. He was negligent in his role.”

“I am familiar with the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence investigations — when they are published, they will shake the foundations. Netanyahu, like all the members of the cabinet on October 7, is unfit to lead,” he adds.

The remarks appear to rule out not only a unity government between Eisenkot and Netanyahu, but also with other October 7 cabinet members, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and much of Likud’s senior leadership, despite Yashar No. 2 Yoram Cohen saying earlier this week that Yashar would consider sitting with Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and a Likud no longer led by Netanyahu.

The Yashar leader recalls Netanyahu appearing “gloomy” and “frightened” during an October 11 cabinet discussion. “He wasn’t in control of the discussion; it essentially ran itself,” says Eisenkot, who joined the emergency government with Benny Gantz days after the Hamas attack and says he felt during the first weeks that the two were “saving the country,” recalling Netanyahu telling him: “You saved us.”

“[Netanyahu] remembers that, and despite this, he repeats lies every day, claiming that I opposed conquering Gaza, when it was Likud ministers who voted against it,” Eisenkot says.

Eisenkot also backs a recent Haaretz report that said Netanyahu’s office received a warning about Hamas’s intentions ahead of October 7 from a senior source connected to the UAE, though he says he cannot confirm the report’s claim that the warning came directly from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ).

“From the checks I carried out, it’s true,” Eisenkot says, adding that the information came from a trustworthy and “very senior source” and was passed to the Prime Minister’s Office, which “did nothing.”

“Netanyahu’s statement that MBZ did not speak to him may be true, but the claim that no such information was received is a complete lie,” he says, arguing that the warning should have been investigated.