Israelis will head to the polls on Oct. 27 in the country’s first national election since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, offering voters their first chance to deliver a verdict on Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minster.
Even as he remains on trial for corruption, Netanyahu has made national security the centerpiece of his campaign, insisting that only he can keep Israel safe. But nearly three years of regional instability has dented his image as Israel’s paramount protector. The war in Gaza has drawn accusations of genocide the U.N. and from myriad independent scholars and experts. And the war with Iran has failed to deliver the decisive victory many Israelis expected.
As Frida Ghitis wrote in her column for WPR last month, Netanyahu has managed to keep his far-right coalition together, but he remains unpopular—and recent polling suggests he might not be voted back to power. The leading opposition contender is former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar party overtook Netanyahu’s Likud for the first time this week, according to a Kan News poll.
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