The battle for Israel: As Netanyahu rallies the Right, Eisenkot makes his move for power

As Israel's election enters its final 11 days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu works to consolidate right-wing voters by targeting Ofer Winter's small party, warning that votes for Winter may be wasted or lead to a left-wing coalition. Opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot seeks to expand his Yashar party's bloc on the center-left. Netanyahu compares Winter to Naftali Bennett, who formed a government with Yair Lapid in 2021.

As Israel's election approaches, the final 11 days of the campaign are dominated by two parallel maneuvers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is intensifying efforts to bring right-wing voters back to Likud, focusing his fire on the small party led by retired brigadier-general Ofer Winter. Netanyahu warns that Winter's party may fail to cross the electoral threshold, wasting right-wing votes, or that Winter could join a left-wing coalition like Naftali Bennett did in 2021. Winter says he will recommend Netanyahu as prime minister but conditions joining a government on haredi conscription reform, telling Channel 12 that Netanyahu can 'go take a hike' if he rejects those terms. On the opposition side, Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party seeks to expand his bloc at the expense of other center-left parties. The article frames the race as a cruise liner with two sides, with Winter and the Yoaz Hendel-Yaron Zelekha party standing in the hallway between them. Netanyahu's sudden ubiquity on Israeli airwaves, including Channel 14, Channel 11, and Army Radio, signals the final stretch.