Election Day Is Here in Israel -Netanyahu and General Eisenkot

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Benjamin Netanyahu's opponent  is this man, a former General...

Gadi Eisenkot (May 19, 1960), 66 yrs, former chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party, holds his ballot as he waits for his wife Hannah to vote with him in Israel's general elections in Herzliya, Israel, on October 27, 2026. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI   License photo | Permalink

Today is Election Day-Tuesday:  October 27, 2026 in Israel.  Of course we have an 10 hour difference with Israel being ahead of our Pacific Coast time by 10 hours.  IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had placed the IDF on its highest alert level and suspended all leaves beginning last Thursday, in preparation for the election. The IDF also has decided to increase the presence of senior commanders in operations centers, headquarters and units to ensure operational readiness and effectiveness. Reinforcements have also been deployed to Judea and Samaria.

Gadi Eisenkot, also spelt Eizenkot, is an Israeli general, politician, and leader of the Yashar party. He served from 2015 to 2019 as the 21st chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and from 2023 to 2024 as a minister without portfolio in Israel's unity government. Gadi Eisenkot was born in Tiberias, in northern Israel. He is the second of four children born to Meir and Esther Eisenkot, Jewish Moroccan immigrants from the town of Safi. His mother was born in Casablanca, and his father was born in Marrakesh. It is thought that the family name was originally Azenkot and was changed to Eisenkot by a clerk after his father immigrated to Israel. His parents subsequently divorced. Both went on to remarry, and Eisenkot has numerous half-siblings as a result.

Background: Eisenkot is a career military commander and strategist who retired from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2019 and entered the Knesset in 2022. 
Platform: He is a center-right former general who opposes a Palestinian state, supports drafting ultra-Orthodox Israelis, and has criticized extremist settler violence. 
The Opposition Bloc: Eisenkot heads an anti-Netanyahu coalition of centrist, left, and right-wing parties.
Current Status: In the October 27, 2026, Israeli elections, exit polls and results have shown a tight race between Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc and Eisenkot's opposition alliance.                         

The IDF announced that it killed three Hamas terrorists, including a cell commander and a member of the group's engineering battalion, in a series of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The 3 were involved in preparing attacks against Israeli troops and civilians and efforts to rebuild Hamas' military capabilities in violation of the ceasefire. Parties of ceasefire: Israel and Hamas (mediated/backed by the U.S., Qatar, and Türkiye)

The most recent major ceasefire involving Israel and Hamas in Gaza came into effect on October 10, 2025, brokered by the United States, Qatar, and Türkiye.Current Status: Although the agreement remains in place as an active framework, ongoing skirmishes, daily airstrikes, and accusations of violations have continued through 2026.

The Israel police arrested eight Jewish suspects in Judea and Samaria early today as part of a new operation launched following violent attacks on American photojournalist Heidi Levine and European diplomats over the weekend. On Friday, dozens of masked Jewish attackers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters near the village of Abu Falah, in the Ramallah area, injuring two people, including veteran photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was covering the harvest for The Washington Post. On Saturday, Jewish extremists attacked diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, along with Israeli activists, who were visiting an olive harvest near the Palestinian village of Taybeh, widely considered the West Bank's last entirely Christian village. The incidents drew condemnations, including from senior officials in the U.S. administration. Yesterday, "On October 16, 2026, Levine, along with several Palestinian olive farmers, was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers while reporting on the Palestinian olive harvest at Abu Falah in the occupied West Bank. The Washington Post, for which she was reporting, stated that she was wearing a vest identifying her as a member of the press, and was robbed of her phone and cameras. (So they obviously didn't want any pictures taken.)   Levine was taken to a hospital in Ramallah with multiple lacerations, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a ripped finger. According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers who arrived fired tear gas at the Palestinians and did not attempt to control the settlers. In a video statement made from the hospital, Levine said, "Today I was brutally attacked," adding, "We saw in the distance, in the hilltop, I would say at least 50 masked men, slingshots. And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground," and "they just kept kicking me and kicking me."  According to colleague Jasper Nathaniel, Levine was provided cover by young Palestinian men who threw rocks at the attacking settlers, without whom "Heidi could be dead".  Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, described the attack as a "despicable act of terror" and called for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible."        Red roofed Jewish homes  Jewish settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank are often built on nearby hilltops directly overlooking or immediately adjacent to Palestinian olive groves. Judea-Samaria has been divided into areas A, B, and C, and it is C that is all Jewish.  B is a mixture and A is all Muslim.   Proximity to Groves and Homes: Many settlements and illegal outposts sit within a few hundred meters or a short walk of Palestinian lands. (Legal Status: While these outposts lack official government approval under initial municipal planning and are widely considered illegal under international law, the Israeli security cabinet has periodically moved to retroactively legalize dozens of them (including over 30 approved in recent cabinet actions)  Area C, where this may be going on, is the Jewish side and is supposed to be all Jewish.  )  For example, an outpost in Qaryut was established about 200 meters (656 feet) from Palestinian homes and olive groves, while other groves sit directly below settlement-occupied hillsides in areas like Lubban al-Gharbi, Deir Abu Masha'al, and Nablus. Hilltop Dominance: Settlements are frequently constructed on elevated terrain, allowing settlers to look down upon or physically access Palestinian agricultural fields.  Access Restrictions: The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) often restrict Palestinian farmers from accessing groves near settlements, requiring coordination or limited window periods, which frequently leads to friction, confrontations, or the seizure of land by nearby farms and outposts. Resource: israelAM