From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 14, 2026
MK Elazar Stern announces Yesh Atid exit ahead of likely run with Eisenkot
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Longtime Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern has announced that he is resigning as a Knesset member with the party after 11 years in office.
Stern has indicated in recent interviews that he is likely to join Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party ahead of the national election scheduled for October 27.
In a statement, Stern says that he is “convinced that if I remain in politics,” he and Yesh Atid will continue to collaborate in a way to “get the State of Israel out of the very serious situation that the current government has brought us into.”
Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid — who has joined forces ahead of the election with former prime minister Naftali Bennett in the B’Yachad party — says he thanks Stern “for his many years of friendship and partnership in working for the State of Israel and wishes him success in the future.”
Yashar is polling significantly ahead of the B’Yachad slate in recent surveys.
Stern was the subject of controversy in 2021 over comments he made asserting 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 Knesset.
The Times of Israel Community.