The ‘menschy’ former general contrasts with the current PM when it comes to style and character – yet on key policy points retains a studied ambiguity

He has been called the man who is everything the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former general and the main opposition candidate in Israel’s elections this month, is unpolished where Netanyahu is slick.

Solidarity with Palestine’s suffering is punished but MEPs allow a witch-hunt of European Muslims

For three painful years, Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, in retaliation for the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023, has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, wounded thousands more and reduced most of the territory to rubble. It has changed views of Israel across the world, increased support for Palestine and raised questions about US power.

Europe’s failure to hold Israel’s government to account has cost it global credibility and influence. But I fear something even more consequential than that: Gaza is changing Europe itself.

Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. She runs New Horizons project, a strategy, analysis and advisory company

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