By GIL HOFFMAN
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot announced to party leaders on Wednesday that he will not be running in the March 23 election.Eisenkot told Gideon Sa'ar, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman that he will not be entering "at this time," due in part to it being too close to the end of his army service and a cooling off period that would prevent him from becoming a minister.The many new parties and candidates also persuaded him not to run, he told them.Eisenkot was considered the only game-changer outside of politics who could make a difference for a party. He was being wooed by several parties, including MK Moshe Ya'alon's Telem Party, Yesh Atid, Blue and White and possibly the Likud.
IDF conducts counter-terror operation in the West Bank Tulkarm area
