Israeli Voters Weigh Netanyahu's Record

Israeli voters head to the polls Tuesday.

The ballot is the first since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza that followed. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, is seeking to extend his tenure after leading a coalition that included far-right ultranationalists and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. He faces an ICC warrant on war crimes charges and a domestic corruption trial over bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which he denies.

His challengers call themselves a Zionist opposition bloc. They have not adopted a left-wing platform. Ahron Bregman, a senior teaching fellow at King's College London, said a new prime minister would change the tone of government. "Don't be mistaken," Bregman said. "Israel, particularly after 7 October, turned sharply to the right, and any new government will reflect and mirror this reality."

The campaign focused on accountability for security failures before October 7, on whether ultra-Orthodox men should serve in the military, and on whether Arab-led parties can enter a coalition. No mainstream candidate has proposed bringing Ra'am or the Joint List into government. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up one-fifth of the population.

Violence in Gaza has continued under a yearlong ceasefire. Settler attacks and army raids in the West Bank have intensified. The war in Gaza has killed more than 74,000 people, according to the source. Israel has also carried out strikes on Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Qatar.

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli government adviser, said the ballot cannot serve as a referendum on Gaza. "How can it be a referendum on genocide, or anything to do with the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza?" Levy asked. "You would have to have one side arguing it was a good thing and the other arguing it was a bad thing, let alone acknowledging that it was a genocide. So, no, obviously none of that is on the ballot."

The drift right predates this government. The collapse of the peace process, security crises, and the 2018 Nation-State Law eroded the political center over recent decades. Netanyahu's government moved faster, attempting to strip the Supreme Court of its power to review government actions and defying court rulings on conscripting the ultra-Orthodox. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed the judicial overhaul launched in early 2023.

Yossi Mekelberg, a senior fellow at Chatham House, framed the choice in institutional terms. "The decision facing Israel of whether to retain a Netanyahu-led government or not is ultimately the decision on whether to live in a functioning democracy or a democracy in name only," he said. He also pointed to the West Bank: "It's the choice between maintaining the occupation of the West Bank or annexing it entirely and the population's 'voluntary migration' from there, figures within the government have actually suggested."