I was at a wedding in Israel several months ago, sitting beside someone who has served the country for decades. Between the music, the blessings, the dancing, and the small miracle of a wedding meal arriving while still warm, our conversation turned to Israel’s future.

He spoke with unusual passion about one man: Gadi Eisenkot.

Not as a slogan. Not as the latest political fashion. Not with the weary shrug Israelis often reserve for politicians. He spoke about Eisenkot with something rarer these days: hope. He believed Eisenkot could become Israel’s next prime minister.

At the time, I knew the broad outline: former IDF chief of staff, member of the war cabinet, bereaved father, serious man. But the conversation stayed with me. Few people outside Israel’s political and security circles know much about Eisenkot. That may soon change.

A Different Kind of Political Figure

Gadi Eisenkot is not a theatrical politician. He does not seem built for soundbites, stagecraft, or the daily circus of Israeli politics — a circus that, like most circuses, occasionally forgets there are real people under the tent.

That may be his weakness. It may also be his strength.

Born in Tiberias in 1960 and raised in Eilat, Eisenkot is of Moroccan descent. He did not come from Israel’s old elite. He rose through the Golani Brigade and eventually became the IDF’s 21st chief of staff, serving from 2015 to 2019. If elected, he would reportedly become Israel’s first Mizrahi prime minister.

His story is, in many ways, an Israeli story: immigrant family, periphery, military service, discipline, sacrifice, and responsibility.

Grief, Service, and Responsibility

After October 7, Eisenkot joined the emergency government and served in the war cabinet framework. Then came the unbearable personal blow: his son, Master Sgt. Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed in Gaza. Two nephews were also killed during the Israel-Hamas War.

It is difficult to imagine carrying that grief while helping make decisions of war and state. And yet grief did not send him away from public life. It seems to have pulled him deeper into it.

Speaking about the loss of his son and nephews, Eisenkot said, “You need to gather strength, to look for good reasons to continue living a normal life. I understand that you cannot turn the clock back.”

That sentence is not a campaign slogan. It is the language of a father who knows there are no shortcuts through grief, only........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)