Eisenkot condemns Netanyahu's racist campaign against Arab citizens.
Former army chief and former opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot accused Benjamin Netanyahu and his political allies of deliberately stoking hostility toward Arab citizens as part of their election strategy.
In a statement published in X, Eisenkot condemned what he described as a systematic campaign of racist incitement and political exclusion aimed at Arab citizens, who make up about 21% of the population of the state of Israel.
He claimed that the prime minister is responsible for representing every citizen, regardless of political affiliation, and condemned the attempts to draw an entire community together as illegitimate.
Eisenkot further emphasized that the Arab citizens are an integral part of national society, and warned that the efforts to demonize and marginalize them undermine the principles announced in the declaration of the establishment of the Israeli state.
However, Eisenkot's political position reveals a striking contradiction.
Despite receiving backing from Arab political parties as a possible successor to Netanyahu, Eisenkot rejected the prospect of forming a governing coalition with them.
His criticism of Netanyahu's anti-Arab rhetoric is therefore in sharp contrast to his unwillingness to translate Arab political support into a joint governing partnership.