Gadi Eisenkot

As army chief, six months after the 2015 nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, he told a security conference that the deal held many dangers but also opportunities, and that Iran would keep it for five years and return to seeking a bomb within fifteen.

“The deal is a significant change in the vector Iran is going toward.”

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?Not clear either way

He saw both danger and gain in a deal with the Islamic Republic and neither backed nor opposed it, so the words do not settle the measure.

In the war cabinet on 11 October 2023 he argued against a preemptive Israeli strike on Hezbollah, which was called off; he later said such a strike would have been a strategic mistake likely to start a regional war.

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FAgainst liberty

Stopping a strike on an armed movement backed by the Islamic Republic, days after its ally Hamas attacked, held back military action against it.

As a war cabinet minister, three months into the war in Gaza, he told Channel 12 that Hamas had taken a major blow in the north of the strip and that talk of its absolute defeat was not the truth.

“Those who talk about an absolute defeat and lack of will and ability do not tell the truth. This is why there is no need to tell tall tales.”

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?Not clear either way

He disputed how far the war had got and named no step for or against Hamas, so the words do not settle the measure.

In the same interview he said that freeing the hostages held by Hamas came before defeating it.

“for me, the mission is to save civilians (hostages) before eliminating the enemy”

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?Not clear either way

Bringing captives home is a state's duty, and a deal for them also pays a terror group, so putting hostages first does not settle the measure for anyone.

Speaking about a possible new confrontation with the Islamic Republic, he welcomed the American build-up of force and said Israel must be ready to carry out operations itself.

“We need to support, ensure and prepare to carry out operations ourselves both for defense and for offense.”

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AWith liberty

Supporting American action against Iran and preparing Israeli strikes is backing military pressure on the regime.

During the 2026 war he said its aims should be destroying Iran's nuclear and missile programmes and preventing terror, and that replacing the regime should not be a goal because that is for the Iranian people to do.

“Regime change should not be a goal. The ones who will do that are the Iranian people.”

In Hebrew: החלפת שלטון לא צריכה להיות מטרה. מי שיעשה את זה, זה העם האירני

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FAgainst liberty

Refusing to make the end of a regime that rules by fear an aim of the war leaves it in place; his demand to destroy its weapons programmes is recorded in other lines.

Asked in June about Arab parties, he ruled none out by name and said he would sit with any party that accepts three principles.

“I will sit with anyone who accepts three principles - Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, the values of the Declaration of Independence and mandatory military or national service.”

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?Not clear either way

The answer neither accepts nor refuses the Islamic party Ra'am as a partner.

He said that during Iran's first missile attack on Israel in April 2024 he advised the prime minister to strike Iran while the missiles were still in the air.

“I recommended a simultaneous strike while the missiles were still on their way here.”

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AWith liberty

Urging a military strike on the Islamic Republic is backing military action against the regime.

Asked about a reported Israeli plan to install a new leader in Iran, he told a conference that anyone who talks about changing the regime in Iran by force is detached from reality.

“Anyone who talks about changing the regime through the use of force is detached from reality, unfamiliar with history and doesn't understand the challenge”

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FAgainst liberty

Ruling out the use of force to end a regime that rules by fear takes that pressure off it while it still rules.

At the launch of his Yashar party he said the confrontation with the Islamic Republic must end in the destruction or dismantling of its nuclear programme, which he said had not yet been achieved.

“Ultimately, it must end in the destruction or dismantling of the Iranian nuclear programme”

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AWith liberty

Demanding that the regime's nuclear programme be destroyed is refusing to let it keep the means to threaten others.

He said the two Arab-led lists, among them the Islamic party Ra'am, cannot be coalition partners, because the next government's guidelines will require every partner to accept that Hamas is a terrorist organisation.

“it will be written that whoever does not accept that Hamas is a terrorist organization, that it needs to be dismantled and destroyed, will not be a partner in the next government.”

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AWith liberty

Keeping parties that will not call Hamas terrorist out of government is acting against Hamas and those who will not disown it.

In an interview days before the election he praised the American president's decision to strike Iran together with Israel and called the campaign courageous, while warning that Iran still sought nuclear weapons.

“Trump's decision to strike Iran together with Israel, exceeded anything one could have imagined.”

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AWith liberty

Praising military action against the regime is backing pressure on it.

Three months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine he pointed to the war as an example of what international support can do for the weaker army, without saying what Israel should do.

“you can see what international perception and support can do to a country's prowess”

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?Not clear either way

An observation about the war that takes no side on helping Ukraine does not settle the measure.

When the war began he joined the war cabinet formed on 11 October 2023 as an observer, alongside his party leader Benny Gantz.

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AWith liberty

Joining the country's wartime leadership after it was attacked is taking part in leading its defense.

He and Benny Gantz resigned from the war cabinet, accusing the prime minister of putting his political interests first and calling for early elections.

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?Not clear either way

Leaving the war cabinet in a dispute over how the war was run, while still backing its aims, neither leads nor abandons the country's defense, so it does not settle the measure.

He said he would invest in the relationship with the United States, which he called crucial under both Biden and Trump.

“These are special relations that are a necessity for Israel.”

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AWith liberty

Backing the alliance with the United States is standing with the free world.

He opposed the defence minister's decision to shut Army Radio, a station he had earlier wanted moved out of the army and kept as a public broadcaster.

“Army Radio is a cornerstone asset of Israeli life. Closing it is an attack on freedom of the press and a dishonest political step.”

In Hebrew: גלי צה"ל היא נכס צאן ברזל בישראליות. סגירתה היא פגיעה בחופש העיתונות וצעד פוליטי לא ישר.

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?Not clear either way

Army Radio is the army's own station, so a fight over the government closing it is not about the state silencing citizens' speech, and the line does not settle the measure.

Yashar candidate Orit Farkash-Hacohen, setting out the party's economic plan, said it would close ministries it sees as unnecessary, cut spending tied to coalition deals, review subsidies that discourage work and open markets to import competition.

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AWith liberty

Less state spending, fewer subsidies and freer imports are on the market side of the measure.

He said his four-year reform of the schools would mean putting a lot of public money into the education system.

“a lot of money into the education system in order to improve it.”

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?Not clear either way

Spending more on schools is not a tax rise, a price control or state ownership, so the line does not settle the measure.

His party's plan for young adults promises protection mechanisms for renters, which the newspaper's headline calls rent caps, along with higher pay for conscripts.

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?Not clear either way

Rent control would be against the measure, but the plan's own wording on the page does not say what the protection is.

He said every school, religious ones included, would have to be inside the state education system and teach the core subjects or lose its state funding.

“Whoever is not in state education - secular, religious, Haredi, Arab - will not receive funding from the state”

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AWith liberty

Ending state money for religious schools that stay outside the common system removes an exemption given to religious bodies.

He said his draft plan would still let 3 percent of each year's Haredi age group, about 2,200 people, be exempted from service to study Torah.

“Today, an annual cohort is approximately 70,000 people, so 3% is about 2,200.... Israel can permit that.”

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?Not clear either way

He would end the blanket religious exemption but keep a small one in law, so the line does not settle the measure.

As army chief in 2015 he led a multi-year plan, called Gideon, that cut the army's career staff to 40,000, cut some home front departments by up to a quarter and closed a regional brigade, to put more of the army's money into combat units and intelligence.

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?Not clear either way

He made the army smaller to pay for its fighting units out of the same budget, which is neither more money for the armed forces nor less, so the line does not settle the measure.

He said military or national service must apply to everyone, Haredim included, and that he would rather face another election than give that up.

“My approach has not changed: service for everyone. Even at the cost of additional elections”

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AWith liberty

Insisting on conscription for all supplies the manpower the armed forces depend on.

He said the army's urgent funding request should be met at once and accused the finance minister of lying about why the money could not be moved.

“It is possible and necessary to provide an immediate response to the IDF's urgent needs, without abandoning responsibility for the public coffers and without reopening the budget for three readings.”

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AWith liberty

Calling for the armed forces to be funded without delay is funding and equipping them.