Israel’s election: The main issues in the words of the leading candidates

From judicial reform to conscription and the Palestinians, here’s where candidates stand on the key issues dominating the campaign.

Will Israeli voters punish Benjamin Netanyahu?

For an election often billed as the most consequential in Israel’s history, many issues that outsiders might expect to divide the candidates are, in fact, points of consensus among the frontrunners.

None of the leading contenders in Tuesday’s election has questioned the case for unleashing a genocide on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, or the wars that have followed, including the one on Iran. Nor have most candidates for the premiership offered a clear path towards implementing a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict that was envisaged in the 1990s, or towards an equitable settlement with the Palestinians whose territory Israel occupies.

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Instead, the points of division centre almost exclusively on Israel’s internal politics and how voters see the future character of their country. The choice is between the hard-right government of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unconstrained by the judicial oversight he has railed against, and the future outlined by the disparate coalition of his opponents, which promises a broadly similar policy agenda but within the confines of the law and without the more extreme elements of the current governing coalition.

So, what have the leading candidates said about the main issues?

The two-state solution

Despite having committed to working towards a two-state solution in the 1990s’ Oslo Accords, with many of their allies adjusting their policies towards Israel to reflect that commitment, few of the contenders in Tuesday’s election appear ready to honour it. Instead, their government stands widely accused of abetting the settler pogroms now raging across the West Bank, while supporting continued construction in the occupied territory in defiance of international law. This includes the E1 settlement plan , which ministers openly boast will bury the two-state solution.

Here’s what some of the contenders have said:

Likud party leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu : “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us.”

Yashar party Gadi Eisenkot : “My position on the Palestinian issue has remained consistent: The principle of two states for two peoples is a mistake.”

Religious Zionist party leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich : The next government should “destroy the idea of an Arab terror state; finally, formally and practically cancel the cursed Oslo Accords and get on the path of sovereignty, while encouraging migration both from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank]. There is no other long-term solution.”

The Democrats leader Yair Golan : “We need to understand that Israeli society is still in trauma from October 7. To make the galactic leap from the current situation to a two-state solution is impossible. It’s not enough to return to old formulas, we need to adjust our plans, our ideas, our perceptions. My concept is about civil separation and security responsibility.”

The conscription of Israel’s growing ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, population into the army is an issue largely unique to Israel, and one whose prominence has grown as the human and economic costs of the wars in which many refuse to take part have mounted.

Netanyahu has continued to rely on the two main Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), for support in the Knesset. They have in turn insisted that he pass legislation overturning the Supreme Court ruling of June 25, 2024 and offering ultra-Orthodox youth a legislative shield against conscription.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men during the ‘Million Man’ protest in Jerusalem against Israeli military conscription, October 30, 2025. [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Here is what leaders have said:

Netanyahu after the arrest this month of about 40 Haredim – plural for Haredi – for avoiding the draft: “We must preserve the world of Torah because it preserved us. These arrests are a deliberate attempt to harm the process of drafting Haredim without coercion.”

Shas leader Aryeh Deri : “There will be no government in Israel with Shas’s support or participation unless the status of yeshiva [seminary] students is regulated.”

Eisenkot : “That is what the upcoming election is about: Netanyahu’s draft-dodging government, or a government of conscription led by me.”

Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Liberman : “Netanyahu is issuing an impassioned call against the arrest of draft evaders, once again proving that he is a hostage to the draft evaders – without them, he has no government.”

Days after taking office in 2022, Netanyahu’s government unveiled a plan to curb the powers of Israel’s courts, which triggered months of mass protests in 2023 before the war on Gaza paused the fight.

The coalition has passed measures reshaping how judges are appointed, while in July a law stripped Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of many of her powers, allowing the government to reject her legal advice and choose its own lawyers in court. Both are due to take effect after the election and most of the opposition has promised to reverse them.

Protesting in Tel Aviv against the government’s judicial overhaul [File: Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters]

The government has also boycotted Chief Justice Isaac Amit. Critics call it a deliberate assault on democracy by a prime minister embroiled in a long-running corruption trial of his own, while Justice Minister Yariv Levin says the election is a historic chance to finish the job.

Here are some of the contenders’ statements:

Netanyahu : “Democracy is the rule of the people. It’s ‘we the people,’ not ‘we the judges … In Israel, [judicial reform] was completely derailed, and we have to bring it back. We don’t have to crush the judiciary, but we have to make sure it doesn’t crush the legislative branch, the Knesset or the executive branch of government.”

Together alliance co-leader, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett : “I want to be clear. We will cancel all the legal revolution laws immediately upon the convening of the Knesset.”

While the killing of more than 74,000 people in Gaza has been entirely absent during the campaign of the two main alliances, questions over political accountability for security failures ahead of and during the Hamas-led attack in 2023 have dominated this election cycle.

Inquiries into failings by the security services ahead of and during the Hamas-led attack led to the resignation of Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi , announced in January 2025. They also fed a long, drawn-out and bitter fight with the prime minister that ended with the departure of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar in June last year.

However, despite recent news reports suggesting that Netanyahu was warned by both the UAE and Egypt ahead of the attack, and longstanding criticism of his policy of keeping Hamas in power in Gaza as a bulwark against the Palestinian Authority, no similar inquiry into his own alleged failings before October 7 has happened.

Here are some of the leaders’ statements:

Eisenkot : “Netanyahu was warned and did not act. A State Commission of Inquiry that we will establish will investigate the disaster. The heads of the systems took responsibility and resigned long ago. We will not allow the master of evaders to escape the truth.”

Netanyahu : The prime minister told the Knesset that his government “wants to establish a commission of inquiry with as broad public support as possible” and not one dismissed by what he claimed is “at least half the country”. The proposed government-led inquiry never reached its final reading and has been deferred to the next session.

从司法改革到征兵制，再到巴勒斯坦问题，以下是候选人在主导竞选的关键问题上的立场。

以色列选民会惩罚本杰明·内塔尼亚胡吗？

这场选举常被誉为以色列历史上最重要的选举，但许多局外人可能认为会使候选人产生分歧的问题，实际上却是领先候选人之间的共识。

周二选举的主要候选人中，没有一人质疑对加沙发动种族灭绝以回应哈马斯领导的2023年10月7日袭击事件，以及随后爆发的战争（包括对伊朗的战争）的合理性。大多数总理候选人也没有提出明确的方案，以实现上世纪90年代设想的以巴冲突两国方案，或与被以色列占领领土上的巴勒斯坦人达成公平的解决方案。

列表 1/4 远非边缘：以色列主流政党如何与极右翼政党投票一致

以色列大选中，巴勒斯坦公民权衡恐惧与失望（共4条，此为第2条）

名单3/4 “右翼一代”：以色列青年对右翼展现出强烈的支持

列表 4（共 4 条）：本杰明·内塔尼亚胡如何重塑以色列的制度

相反，分歧几乎完全集中在以色列的内部政治以及选民如何看待国家的未来走向。选民的选择在于：一方面是现任总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡领导的极右翼政府，该政府不受他一直抨击的司法监督的约束；另一方面是由反对派组成的多元化联盟所描绘的未来蓝图，该联盟承诺在法律框架内推行大致相似的政策议程，并且剔除了当前执政联盟中更为极端的因素。

那么，主要候选人对主要问题都说了些什么呢？

两态解

尽管以色列在上世纪90年代的《奥斯陆协议》中承诺致力于实现两国方案，并且许多盟友也调整了对以色列的政策以体现这一承诺，但周二选举中的候选人似乎鲜少有人愿意履行这一承诺。相反，他们的政府被广泛指控纵容目前在西岸肆虐的定居者暴行，同时支持在被占领土上继续进行建设，公然违反国际法。这其中包括E1定居点计划，部长们公开吹嘘该计划将彻底埋葬两国方案。

以下是一些候选人的发言：

利库德集团领导人、总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡：“我们将履行我们的承诺，不会建立巴勒斯坦国；这片土地属于我们。”

亚沙尔党成员加迪·艾森科特：“我对巴勒斯坦问题的立场始终如一：两国方案是一个错误。”

宗教犹太复国主义政党领袖、财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇表示：“下一届政府应该彻底摧毁阿拉伯恐怖主义国家的理念；最终，正式且切实地废除该死的奥斯陆协议，走上主权之路，同时鼓励加沙和朱迪亚及撒玛利亚（被占领的西岸地区）的移民。除此之外，别无长远之计。”

民主党领袖亚伊尔·戈兰表示：“我们需要明白，以色列社会至今仍未从10月7日的创伤中走出来。从目前的状况直接过渡到两国方案是不可能的。仅仅回到过去的老路是不够的，我们需要调整我们的计划、理念和认知。我的方案是关于公民隔离和安全责任。”

以色列日益增长的极端正统派（哈雷迪）人口被征召入伍，这是一个以色列特有的问题，而且随着许多人拒绝参战的战争造成的人员伤亡和经济损失不断增加，这个问题也变得越来越突出。

内塔尼亚胡在以色列议会中继续依靠两大哈雷迪政党——沙斯党和联合托拉犹太教党（UTJ）的支持。而这两大政党则坚持要求他通过立法推翻最高法院2024年6月25日的裁决，并为极端正统派青年提供法律保护，使其免受征兵。

2025年10月30日，在耶路撒冷举行的“百万男子”抗议活动中，极端正统派犹太男子反对以色列的兵役征召。[Ammar Awad/路透社]

以下是领导人的发言：

本月约有 40 名哈雷迪教徒因逃避兵役而被捕，内塔尼亚胡对此表示：“我们必须维护托拉的世界，因为它保护了我们。这些逮捕行动是蓄意破坏哈雷迪教徒在非强制征兵过程中被征召入伍的企图。”

沙斯党领袖阿里耶·德里表示：“除非犹太教经学院学生的地位得到规范，否则以色列不会有沙斯党支持或参与的政府。”

艾森科特：“即将到来的选举就是关于这个的：内塔尼亚胡的逃避兵役的政府，还是由我领导的实行征兵制的政府。”

以色列贝特努党领袖阿维格多·利伯曼表示：“内塔尼亚胡再次慷慨激昂地呼吁逮捕逃避兵役者，这再次证明他是逃避兵役者的俘虏——没有他们，他就无法执政。”

2022 年上任几天后，内塔尼亚胡政府公布了一项限制以色列法院权力的计划，这引发了 2023 年长达数月的大规模抗议活动，直到加沙战争才暂停了这场斗争。

联合政府已通过多项措施，重塑法官的任命方式。7月，一项法律剥夺了总检察长加利·巴哈拉夫-米亚拉的诸多权力，允许政府拒绝采纳她的法律建议，并在法庭上自行选择律师。这两项措施均将于大选后生效，大多数反对派已承诺推翻这些措施。

在特拉维夫举行的抗议活动中，民众反对政府的司法改革。[图片：伊兰·罗森伯格/路透社]

政府还抵制了首席大法官艾萨克·阿米特。批评人士称，这是总理蓄意攻击民主，而他本人也正深陷旷日持久的腐败审判之中。司法部长亚里夫·莱文则表示，此次选举是完成这项工作的历史性机遇。

以下是部分候选人的声明：

内塔尼亚胡：“民主是人民的统治。是‘我们人民’，而不是‘我们法官’……在以色列，（司法改革）彻底脱轨，我们必须把它拉回来。我们不必摧毁司法机构，但我们必须确保它不会扼杀立法机构、议会或行政部门。”

“团结联盟”联合领导人、前总理纳夫塔利·贝内特表示：“我要明确一点。一旦议会召开，我们将立即废除所有所谓的‘革命性法律’。”

尽管在两大联盟的竞选活动中，加沙地带超过 74,000 人被杀的事件完全被忽略，但关于 2023 年哈马斯领导的袭击事件发生前后安全失误的政治责任问题，却主导了本次选举周期。

对哈马斯领导的袭击发生前后安全部门失职行为的调查导致总参谋长赫尔齐·哈列维于 2025 年 1 月辞职。这些调查还引发了与总理之间旷日持久且激烈的斗争，最终导致辛贝特负责人罗南·巴尔于去年 6 月离职。

然而，尽管最近的新闻报道表明，内塔尼亚胡在袭击发生前曾收到阿联酋和埃及的警告，而且长期以来，他让哈马斯在加沙掌权以对抗巴勒斯坦权力机构的政策也一直受到批评，但对于他在 10 月 7 日之前涉嫌的失职行为，却没有进行过类似的调查。

以下是部分领导人的声明：

艾森科特：“内塔尼亚胡曾被警告过，但他没有采取行动。我们将成立一个国家调查委员会，对这场灾难进行调查。相关部门负责人早已承担责任并辞职。我们绝不会让这个逃避责任的高手逃脱真相。”

内塔尼亚胡：总理在议会表示，他的政府“希望成立一个获得尽可能广泛公众支持的调查委员会”，而不是一个被他声称“至少半数国民”反对的委员会。这项由政府主导的调查提案最终未能通过审议，已被推迟到下届会议。