Eisenkot calls Netanyahu's Knesset swearing-in speech 'hate-filled' and shameful

Gadi Eisenkot, who chairs the Yashar party, attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the speech Netanyahu gave at the ceremony swearing in Israel's 26th Knesset. In a post on X, Eisenkot described the address as delusional, divisive, full of hatred and shameful, and accused Netanyahu of misusing a state occasion. The Times of Israel reported that, according to Eisenkot, the address had only deepened his conviction that the head of Likud should not be leading the country.

Eisenkot wrote that he was now even more convinced Netanyahu should not remain in the post for "even one minute more," and he renewed his call for a "national emergency government." The Hebrew news site Ynet carried the criticism in a breaking alert, quoting him calling the speech delusional, hate-filled and shameful, and the political commentator Amit Segal posted the full Hebrew text of the statement on his Telegram channel.

What Eisenkot said

In his own post on X, written in Hebrew, Eisenkot said he had sat and listened to the address by the man he called the "outgoing prime minister." He argued that continued Netanyahu rule divides Israel and puts its security at risk, and said action was needed urgently to form an emergency government. These are Eisenkot's characterisations and claims, made as a political opponent.

The post ended by tagging four other opposition figures: Yair Lapid, Yair Golan, Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, followed by a short Hebrew phrase meaning roughly "it is on us." The message reads as an appeal to those leaders to work together, though the post itself does not spell out what form that cooperation would take, and none of the four is reported to have responded.

What Netanyahu said in the Knesset

According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu used his speech to accuse two Arab-led parties, Ra'am and the Joint List, of wanting "the destruction of the Jewish state." In the same address he called for a "unity government" to be formed. The report does not quote further from the speech, and the material available does not include a response from Netanyahu or his Likud party to Eisenkot's remarks.

The same Times of Israel live blog listed a separate entry headlined as Netanyahu telling Haredim, Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, not to trust Eisenkot. Only the start of that headline appears in the material, so its full content is not known here.

The setting: a new Knesset

The Knesset is Israel's parliament, and each newly elected Knesset is formally opened with a swearing-in ceremony at which members take their oath of office. It is treated as a state occasion, which is the basis of Eisenkot's complaint that Netanyahu turned it to partisan use. Eisenkot's reference to Netanyahu as the outgoing prime minister reflects the period after an election, before a new government has been formed and approved by the parliament.

The competing phrases used on the day point to the main question in that period. Netanyahu called for a unity government, while Eisenkot is pressing for what he calls a national emergency government. Both terms describe broad coalitions, but the reports do not set out who either man envisages including.

Who is involved

Eisenkot leads Yashar, whose full name as given in his party's own branding is "Yashar! with Eisenkot." Netanyahu leads Likud. The Joint List and Ra'am, the two parties Netanyahu singled out, are led by Arab citizens of Israel. The four politicians Eisenkot tagged are figures in the camp opposed to Netanyahu.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports includes a reply from Netanyahu, Likud, the Joint List or Ra'am, and none records whether Lapid, Golan, Lieberman or Bennett answered Eisenkot's call. Eisenkot has not said, in the material available, which parties his proposed emergency government would include or how it would be formed.