Israelis went to the polls in large numbers on Tuesday for a national election widely treated as a judgment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to The New York Times. It is the country's first general election since the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, which reshaped the nation and set off three years of war.
Three hours after voting began, turnout stood at 16.7 percent, the Central Elections Committee reported — a higher figure than in recent general elections, The New York Times reported.
Voters are choosing between two blocs with sharply different agendas. Netanyahu is running at the head of what The New York Times describes as the most far-right government in Israel's history, a coalition of nationalists and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Against him is a loose alliance of opposition parties led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose son was killed in the Gaza war.
Why it matters
Both camps have cast the vote as decisive for the country's future. Netanyahu's coalition promises a more religious Israel with a tighter hold over the West Bank and Gaza. His opponents, according to The New York Times, present the election as a final opportunity to protect Israeli democracy and to stop the country from becoming a pariah state under international sanctions.
The outcome carries weight beyond Israel's borders. President Trump has endorsed Netanyahu, calling him an important partner in the confrontation with Iran and saying anyone else would be the "wrong leader" for Israel, The New York Times reported. Analysts quoted by the paper were doubtful that the U.S. president's backing would move many voters.
Two competing visions, and a long count ahead
Polls close at 10 p.m., but a clear answer on the next prime minister is unlikely to arrive quickly. Surveys suggest Netanyahu's allies and rivals are close to level, and under Israel's parliamentary system, building a governing coalition can take weeks or months. The New York Times reports that the possible outcomes run from a fragile coalition to a minority government to another election.
The opposition, led by Eisenkot, has demanded accountability for what it calls Netanyahu's failure to stop the Oct. 7 attacks. It has also promised to restore Israel's damaged standing abroad, including by acting against violence by Israeli extremists against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu, 77, has refused to set up an independent commission to investigate the attacks. He has pledged to continue his plan to overhaul the judicial system, which critics say would weaken the country's liberal democracy. His allies say they intend to keep tightening Israel's control over the West Bank and Gaza despite international criticism. In the final days of the campaign, The New York Times reports, he repeatedly suggested the country could be destroyed without him in charge.
Palestinians in the West Bank are under an Israeli military lockdown as voting takes place. They, along with Palestinians in Gaza, cannot cast ballots in Israeli elections, but The New York Times notes they stand to lose much if Netanyahu's coalition remains in power.
The campaign itself was turbulent. Before the election date was even fixed, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced they would run together, a partnership that briefly removed Netanyahu from office in 2021 with a government that lasted under two years. Their unified party, B'Yachad, was expected to contend for the largest faction in the Knesset, but surveys consistently placed it third.
Parties across the spectrum used A.I.-generated campaign content, and one case drew wide condemnation. In July, Netanyahu posted a video showing Eisenkot running through a meadow toward a figure resembling his late son Gal, who was killed in 2023 at the start of the Gaza war, only to pass him and embrace Mansour Abbas, a prominent Arab politician. Netanyahu has sought to portray Abbas, who could help Eisenkot assemble a coalition, as sympathetic to terrorism. Likud denied that the young man was meant to resemble Eisenkot's son, but many Israelis reacted with anger, The New York Times reported. Matan Kahana, a former lawmaker on Eisenkot's slate, said there was "no bottom to the pit the Likud is willing to sink into."
In another unexpected turn, Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz, a veteran Zionist politician and former police commander, announced a joint run on the slate of the United Arab List, or Raam, presenting themselves as a model of Jewish-Arab cooperation.
What to watch: turnout figures through the day, the exit polls after 10 p.m., and then the coalition arithmetic — with weeks of bargaining likely before anyone can claim the prime minister's office.
