Netanyahu attacks Eisenkot's Yashar, says elections are direct struggle between Left, Right

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the upcoming Knesset elections as a direct struggle between the Right and Left, and sharply attacked Yashar party leader and prime ministerial candidate, Gadi Eisenkot, during a Likud party rally in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.

"I want to tell you what these elections are about," Netanyahu said. "It is either Left or Right. That is the essence of the elections. Either Left or Right. There is no Yashar, it is a bluff."

"I am going to the Right, we are on the Right. I do not need someone to say, like Eisenkot's campaign manager says: 'What do we need to say so that they will think we are Right?' We are Right," Netanyahu added.

A central part of the speech was devoted to a political attack against Eisenkot. Netanyahu criticized Eisenkot's decisions as IDF chief of staff and as a member of the cabinet during the war, and claimed that a government led by him would include Yair Golan, Avigdor Lieberman, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid and the Arab parties.

Netanyahu claimed that such a government would "cancel all our achievements," lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state and withdrawal from security zones.

In response, Eisenkot posted a tweet with a picture showing Netanyahu pointing at the T-Junction road sign that he used on stage, but edited to be placed in front of a backdrop of Hamas terrorists crossing the Israel-Gaza border on the back of a pick-up truck, and driving along a highway with signs pointing to Sderot and Ofakim, in the Gaza border communities.

Terrorists from Hamas and other terror groups driving through southern Israel is a reference to the terror infiltration during the October 7 massacre.

Netanyahu announces proposal of bill to 'financially harm' those who defame IDF

Netanyahu also attacked Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan and referred to his statements regarding IDF activity and the controversy surrounding the Military Advocate General.

He announced that together with Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a government bill would be advanced that, according to him, would financially harm those who defame the IDF around the world, and he also addressed a proposal regarding revoking citizenship.

Toward the end of the speech, Netanyahu addressed right-wing voters and warned against voting for parties that may not pass the electoral threshold. "It is forbidden to vote for a party that does not pass the electoral threshold," he said, and also warned about transferring votes that could, according to him, harm the right-wing bloc, a message aimed, among others, at Ofer Winter's People of Israel party.

The prime minister also addressed relations with the United States. "A prime minister in Israel must be a statesman who operates in the international arena," he said. "You need to know how to mobilize our friends, first and foremost in the United States." According to him, alongside cooperation with Washington, an Israeli prime minister needs to know "how to say no when necessary."

Netanyahu also devoted a large portion of his speech to the war and Israel's military achievements.

"Think about where we were three years ago. Look at what we achieved thanks to our heroic soldiers," he said. "I promised on the second day of the war that we would change the Middle East. That is exactly what we did, we changed the Middle East."

Israel 'would not have been here today' if it hadn't acted against Iran's nuclear program

The prime minister mentioned the successful killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and claimed that government actions prevented an existential threat to Israel. "We saved the State of Israel from destruction," he said.

According to him, had the decision not been made to act against Iran's nuclear program, "we might not have been meeting here today."

Netanyahu also addressed the strike in Iran, saying: "We did what no one dared to do for 47 years." According to him, most media outlets are trying "to hide this historic thing."

He compared the Iranian threat to a "cancerous mass" that must be removed in order to prevent danger to the patient's life.

Later, Netanyahu mentioned the pager operation against Hezbollah, which happened two years to the day before Thursday's speech.

"Exactly on this day two years ago we blew up the pagers. You remember the pagers, right?" he told the audience. "I promise you, Hezbollah also remembers them."

The prime minister listed Israel's operations in Lebanon and Syria and said that Israel also acted to defend the Druze in Syria.

"We did this because we are Right and not Left, because we protect Israel's security," he said.

Netanyahu declared that the campaign has not yet ended. "We have done a significant part of the work. I want to say honestly, we must complete the mission until the end," he said. He later presented the fall of the Iranian regime, the elimination of Hezbollah and Hamas as goals that Israel is required to complete.