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Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party announces that former Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Kamil Abu Rukun is joining its slate ahead of the upcoming elections.
A resident of the Druze town of Isfiya, Abu Rukun served for four decades in senior security roles, including as head of COGAT — Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians — from 2018 until his retirement in 2021.
In a statement, Eisenkot — a former IDF chief of staff — who has known Abu Rukun for more than 30 years, calls him “an experienced security professional with an iron moral backbone” and “an asset in every security role he held.”
“The Israeli covenant — Zionist and rooted in service — requires action,” Eisenkot says, adding that Israel’s 150,000 Druze citizens and others who serve the state “deserve broad recognition and meaningful rewards for their contribution.”
Abu Rukun says he is joining Yashar because of his confidence in Eisenkot’s ability “to restore solidarity and unity to the State of Israel.”
“I am committed to working alongside Gadi to address the challenges the Druze community has faced for decades, offer hope and secure a better future for the younger generation while strengthening the historic alliance between the Druze community and the State of Israel,” he says.
Eisenkot has previously pledged to place a Druze candidate in a realistic spot on the party’s slate, though it remains unclear where Abu Rukun will be ranked.
There are currently three Druze members of the Knesset: Likud MK Afif Abed, Yisrael Beytenu’s Hamad Amar, and Akram Hasson of Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope faction, which merged into Likud last year.
Abu Rukun joins a slate that includes former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, former Finance Ministry budget chief Shaul Meridor, former communications minister Matan Kahana, and former Mossad and Shin Bet official Dvora Sharfian Bachar.
The post Druze general Kamil Abu Rukun, a former COGAT chief, joins Eisenkot’s Yashar appeared first on The Times of Israel.
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