Gadi Eisenkot campaigns on Moroccan roots in challenge to Netanyahu

Gadi Eisenkot campaigns on Moroccan roots in challenge to Netanyahu

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As Israel prepares to vote, Gadi Eisenkot is leveraging his Moroccan heritage in Likud strongholds such as Sderot. From historical divides to October 7, identity and trauma are redefining the city's political loyalties. Campaign posters with various slogans promote the right-wing Likud and the far-right Otzma Yehudit parties. However, one poster is seen more than any others: that of the liberal Yashar party. Its slogan, "Rosh Memshala Dialna," combines the terms "prime minister" in Hebrew and the words "of our own" in Moroccan Arabic. And there is a good reason why Eisenkot's campaign in Sderot and other cities on Israel's sociopolitical periphery focuses on his Moroccan roots. Sderot — located in the Negev desert, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) to Tel Aviv's south and just a kilometer away from the Gaza border — is a city with a large Moroccan Jewish community. In recent decades, the city has become symbolic of Moroccan-Jewish culture in Israel, finding its expression in music, cinema and state politics.

Historically, Sderot is considered a bastion of the Israeli right, and especially a stronghold of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud. In 2022, Likud received more than 40% of the votes in Sderot, compared with 23% nationwide. Other members of Israel's far-right coalition received a lot of support there in the last election. This pattern reflects deeper historical divisions in Israel between Ashkenazim, or Jews of European origin, and Mizrahim, or Jews mostly from Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds.

According to estimates, half of Israel's Jewish population is of Mizrahi origin, amounting to about 4 million people. Mizrahi Jews have faced discrimination and neglect since the early days of the Israeli state. This inequality still shapes the economic and social reality in Israel — and its political discourse. The issue has received special attention in the 2026 campaign. Eisenkot, Netanyahu's major challenger, is of Moroccan origin and grew up in Eilat, a city with a large North African Jewish population.

Eisenkot's Yashar party accused Likud of sidelining its Mizrahi politicians. The campaign slogan, "Netanyahu: Let the Mizrahim give interviews,” mocked that omission. On live television, the right-wing journalist Yinon Magal — one of Netanyahu's most vocal supporters — claimed that Eisenkot was being controlled by elitist Ashkenazim and called him a "monkey." Netanyahu, who is of European origin, condemned the remark.