JERUSALEM: Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country wrestles with unresolved wars, continues to reel from Hamas\u2019 2023 attack and is deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who voted just after midday, faces an array of parties seeking to oust Israel\u2019s longest-serving premier from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote, and tens of thousands have reportedly arrived from overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very moving and fateful moment,\u201d Netanyahu said. He told journalists after voting that he believes the Arab parties that could make or break the election \u201care receiving massive, truly massive, support. They are heading to the polls in unprecedented numbers.\u201d He urged supporters to forget about the beach or the barbecue and vote.<\/p>\n
More than 31 percent of Israelis voted by noon, the highest voter turnout by midday since 1977, according to figures by the Central Elections Committee.<\/p>\n
Inside Israel, the race is largely about security and who should serve to defend the country. Outside Israel, it\u2019s mainly about the country\u2019s reputation \u2014 and the security of Jewish people worldwide \u2014 after growing criticism over the war in Gaza and Jewish settler violence in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
In Israel\u2019s fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority. There is a chance that neither Netanyahu\u2019s religious and ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties hoping to remove him has enough support for a majority. That could set off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers \u2014 if other parties agree to join forces with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vote will change the government,\u201d Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra\u2019am party, said while voting, adding that he hoped turnout would surpass 70 percent in Arab communities. Arabs in Israel make up about 20 percent of the population.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for taunting Palestinian detainees and saying some Palestinians in Gaza are \u201cnot even people,\u201d warned that \u201cit will be Mansour Abbas\u2019 government\u201d if Netanyahu and his allies don\u2019t win.<\/p>\n
Emotions run high among some voters<\/p>\n
Some emotions were high. In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot.<\/p>\n
The election is Israel\u2019s first national vote since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts. In Tel Aviv, families of some killed on Oct. 7 or former hostages held a moment of silence. \u201cRemember all those whose voices are no more,\u201d said Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam was killed.<\/p>\n
Around 330,000 young Israelis, many facing compulsory military service under the shadow of war, are eligible to vote for the first time.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot started the day by visiting communities attacked on Oct. 7. \u201cIf someone in the government had a shred of responsibility, they would start the morning here\u201d in the communities near Gaza, he said.<\/p>\n
After voting, standing in a cheering crowd, Eisenkot called on all Israelis to vote to get rid of \u201cthe worst government Israel has known.\u201d He noted that victory wasn\u2019t certain, adding that \u201cwe are on perhaps the most critical day since the founding of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar party said it filed an urgent complaint over nine incidents in which its ballot slips were missing, damaged or turned over inside voting booths, and suggested a \u201csystematic and deliberate\u201d sabotage attempt.<\/p>\n
Overall, the acting director-general of the elections committee, Dean Livne, said the number of reports about irregularities or issues at polling stations was much lower than in previous elections.<\/p>\n
Security, military conscription and integrity are top issues<\/p>\n
The vote serves not only as a referendum on Netanyahu\u2019s leadership but also on what kind of country Israel should be \u2014 heavily influenced by religious and nationalist forces, or more firmly anchored in liberal and secular values.<\/p>\n
Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. Public support among Americans has plummeted, and partners in Europe and elsewhere have slapped sanctions on Israel.<\/p>\n
Also hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran. Netanyahu ramped up threats ahead of the vote, warning Tehran it would face \u201ca devastating blow\u201d if it attacked Israel.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate statesman who they believe has triumphantly guided Israel through multiple wars. They think he is protecting Israel\u2019s Jewish identity while keeping in check what they see as an interventionist judiciary.<\/p>\n
His Israeli detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by an ongoing corruption trial, dragged out the war in Gaza and its hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is undermining Israel\u2019s independent judiciary and weakening its democratic underpinnings. And they accuse him of abetting a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid enlistment in Israel\u2019s compulsory military.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe present government is driving the country into the ground,\u201d voter Angela Bengur said in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security credentials who, along with his likely governing partners, could act as a bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone personally touched by the conflict \u2014 his son and two nephews were killed in Gaza \u2014 his backers believe that he feels deeply the pain that still courses through Israel.<\/p>\n
Parties that likely would support Eisenkot have vowed to improve Israel\u2019s international standing and work to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of the judiciary.<\/p>\n
The elections are about \u201cwho serves and who evades service \u2014 who takes an active part in building this country and who doesn\u2019t,\u201d said voter Nisso Shitrit in Jaffa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM: Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country wrestles with unresolved wars, continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,85,46,2649,43],"class_list":["post-658619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israeli-elections","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}