Israel’s Deeply Divided Electorate Gears Up for Pivotal Vote
A tightly contested election looms as Israel’s society splits over war, security and governance.
After three years of regional war, Israel faces an election many insiders described as inevitable.
The general election on Tuesday hangs over a country that is deeply divided and ready for a fight.
Polls published on Friday put the governing coalition and the main opposition bloc almost neck‑and‑neck, with a sizable cohort of first‑time voters due to cast their ballot and a notable contingent of Israelis reportedly flying in from abroad specifically to vote.
On Saturday night, vast crowds of opposition voters gathered in central Tel Aviv to demand a change of government.
"We're optimistic," 21‑year‑old Omri told me. "I want peace, I want security, and I want to end corruption and get the religious fanatics out."
This campaign has been energized by new tactics – including AI videos designed to grab the headlines – and also by a new face.
Gadi Eisenkot is, perhaps, not the man you might expect to take on the flashy, aggressive, media‑savvy brand of Israel's longest‑serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Relatively new to politics, with a working‑class Moroccan background, Eisenkot is a former military chief of staff who is renowned for his calm manner and low‑drama approach. He's been dubbed by some as a “non‑politician”.
But he and his centrist Yashar party have regularly pipped Netanyahu and his Likud party to the top spot in recent polls, the last of which was published on Friday, in line with Israeli election law.
Israeli politics is the art of coalition‑building, rather than the task of any one party winning power, but with the predicted result too close to call, Eisenkot's rising profile has sharpened a race many Israelis already see as existential for the future of their country.
I watched him slip past the cameras at a community centre for Ethiopian Jews in the city of Ramle last week, through a gaggle of security personnel and advisors.
