Netanyahu’s election pitch: It’s me and Trump, or Eisenkot and Abbas

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the graduation ceremony of an IDF officers’ course in southern Israel, October 21, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the graduation ceremony of an IDF officers’ course in southern Israel, October 21, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharpens his attack on his political rivals ahead of next week’s election, telling Israel National News that it’s “me and [US President Donald] Trump, or [Gadi] Eisenkot and [Mansour] Abbas.”

Netanyahu says that if he loses the election, the next government will be made up of “the left” and Arab parties, “a copy of what is happening in Europe.”

Most mainstream anti-Netanyahu parties, including Eisenkot’s, have ruled out relying on Arab factions to form a coalition, and most oppose a Palestinian state.

“It destroyed France, it destroyed the UK; if God forbid it happens here, it will destroy Israel,” Netanyahu says.

“They will give citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians for demographic change for the next election,” he says of a potential government made up of opposition parties.

Eisenkot, he further says, “is incapable of acting on the world stage. He doesn’t have the experience, he doesn’t have the talent, he doesn’t have the connections.”

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