Israelis went to the polls this Tuesday in record numbers to judge, in wartime, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in what some described as the most important election in the country’s history.
Long lines formed outside polling places in the first election since Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, as voters grappled with the trauma of the bloodiest day in Israel’s recent history and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
The Central Election Commission reported turnout reached 74.3%, the highest rate for this phase of voting since 1988. The polls would close at 22:00 in Israel (5:00 PM Brasília time).
Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition policies have generated divisions in the country and broadened Israel’s international isolation. But he presents himself as the only leader with the courage to confront the country’s enemies.
NETANYAHU, THE SURVIVOR, AGAINST EISENKOT, THE GENERAL
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, with 19 years in office, is an unparalleled political survivor, and his nationalist policy is growing more entrenched. The country’s fragmented system makes it difficult for any opposition group to topple his coalition of right-wing, far-right, and ultra-Orthodox parties.
His main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, the former chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a proponent of a hard line on security, intends to remove him from power with the support of right and center parties, as well as what remains of a left increasingly marginalized. Polls show a tight race, not guaranteeing either side an easy path to form a government.
Analysts hesitate to predict what impact the high turnout might have on the result. An increase in votes from Israeli Arabs could limit Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition gains and make it more likely that any government formed to remove him from power would need the support of Arab parties, a prospect viewed as controversial by leaders of Jewish parties.
Netanyahu urged his supporters to come to the polls to counterbalance the high turnout among his left-wing opponents and among Arab Israelis.
“All of you need to flood the polls,” he said. “This is a decisive moment.”
Osama Saadi, Palestinian politician and leader of the Joint List, a coalition bringing together several Arab-majority parties, said there was a “historic” participation by Palestinian citizens with Israeli citizenship.
According to Saadi, Palestinian citizens of Israel registered turnout of about 69%, while total Arab participation in the previous election was approximately 56%.
“I think these are the most important elections of all I have witnessed,” said Ruth Epstein, an 81-year-old voter and longtime leftist supporter in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, who voted for the opposition Democrats.
Netanyahu campaigned with the support of U.S. President Donald Trump, his ally in the war against Iran, who said they should “finish the job.”
If neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot can form a government coalition in the 120-seat Parliament, Netanyahu could remain as caretaker prime minister until a new election is held.
His rivals have managed to remove him from the premiership only once since 2009, and that required four inconclusive elections in two years. Eighteen months later, he was back in power.
EISENKOT SEES A “NEW SPIRIT”
For many of Netanyahu’s opponents, the election centers on holding accountable the security failures of October 7, the bloodiest day in Israel’s recent history. Opposition groups pledged to conduct a national inquiry, which the Netanyahu government has opposed.
“I am convinced that, by the end of today, we will see a change, a new spirit for the State of Israel, which will serve as a correction for the last three years and for that terrible day,” Eisenkot said during a visit to the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel, one of the targets of the October 7 attacks.
He voted alongside Gadi Mozes, one of the 251 people kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza during the attack that killed about 1,200 people.
Eisenkot says Israel’s response, a war that Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, was a failure because Hamas remains in power. The candidate reiterated his commitment to dismantling the group’s military and governmental capacity in Gaza within 18 months of taking office.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of a far-right party within Netanyahu’s coalition, voted at the Kiryat Arba settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday morning. He predicted that Netanyahu would return to the post of prime minister and that his party would serve as the right-wing anchor of the future government.
ARAB PARTICIPATION COULD BE FUNDAMENTAL
Ahmed Tibi, a candidate from an Arab party, said that record participation by Israel’s Arab minority “would pave the way for an alternative government and change the grave reality.”
Eisenkot ruled out a formal alliance with Arab parties, although, in some scenarios, he could count on them to sustain a minority government and keep Netanyahu out of power.
Netanyahu has repeatedly described Israeli Arabs, who account for about one-fifth of the country’s population, as a threat, in a speech his opponents have described as bordering on racism. On Tuesday, he posted on X an image showing a row of Arab women, wearing niqab or with expressions of anger, allegedly at a polling station. Independent fact-checkers said the image had been created by artificial intelligence.
Cars bearing Likud flags, Netanyahu’s party, drove through the streets of Jerusalem with loudspeakers reproducing the Islamic call to prayer and urging voters: “Get out of your homes now! The Arabs are voting!”
Like most leaders of Jewish parties in Israel, Eisenkot opposes the two-state solution, which for decades formed the basis for peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
On the other hand, he has criticized the violence of Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which has risen since 2023 and damaged Israel’s relations with Western countries. He also opposes Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.
