Sharp criticism emerged from within the left-center camp over the conduct of "Yashar!" party leader and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot: journalist and commentator Raviv Drucker has published a scathing column in Haaretz, in which he delivers harsh criticism of the way Eisenkot's election campaign is being run and describes it as nearly paralyzed.
In his column, Drucker notes that fear of making mistakes has led to Eisenkot's campaign becoming too quiet. "It is doubtful whether the general public can say what exactly the central message of the campaign is," Drucker writes, pointing an accusing finger also at campaign manager and former IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis, who "has never run an election campaign before." He emphasizes that the combination of all these factors has meant that even now, just two weeks before the election, the candidate's central message is still not clear to the public.
He further describes how in recent weeks there have been several incidents in which the campaign's response was slow, lacking imagination and inspiration. According to him, part of the problem lies in Eisenkot's personal limitations as a political candidate.
