Netanyahu fights for his political survival as pivotal Israeli election kicks off

• Voting is underway in an election seen as one of the most important in Israel’s history and a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership since the October 7, 2023 attacks.

• Opinion polls suggest the race will be too close to call, likely failing to produce a clear winner. The latest polling shows Netanyahu in a tight race against Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief.

• No single party has ever won a 61-seat majority in Israel’s 120-member parliament, or Knesset. Instead, governments are formed through alliances, which can take weeks or even months to form.

Israelis are voting in one of the country's most critical elections

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Voting has begun in one of Israel’s most significant elections in its history.

Voters are facing a familiar question: Should Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, stay in power?

Nearly every recent election has been a referendum on Netanyahu. This time, many Israelis say the choice is more consequential than ever: not only about who will lead the country, but about where it is heading.

It is the first national vote since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, the deadliest security failure in Israel’s history, and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran — conflicts that have mobilized much of the country and subsequently deepened Israel’s international isolation.

For many voters, this is the first chance to pass judgment on the leadership that presided over October 7 failures, and decide who should lead the country in conflict and carry the burden of increased military service.

Netanyahu’s outgoing government — the first in decades to conclude a full four-year term — relied on far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, who pushed Israel in a more nationalist and religious direction than ever before. He became the first sitting Israeli prime minister to stand trial on corruption charges as his government pursued a judicial overhaul aimed at weakening the Supreme Court and other checks on power. The overhaul effort sparked massive protests in 2023.

At stake in Tuesday’s election is whether Israel keeps moving in the nationalistic, conservative and religious direction — or changes course.

The answer might not be clear for weeks, because of the way Israeli coalitions are built. Polls suggest neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition is likely to win a majority alone, meaning the vote may launch Israel’s next political crisis rather than settle it.

Who is Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main challenger?

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s principal opponent in Tuesday’s elections is a relative newcomer to politics. Instead, one of his key electoral advantages boils down to a simple truth: He is not Netanyahu.

Gadi Eisenkot, 66, has spent most of his life in the Israeli military, enlisting in the Golani Brigade in 1978 and rising over a 40-year career to become chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, serving under Netanyahu.

He entered politics in 2022 alongside another former chief of staff, Benny Gantz. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, the two joined Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet. But they left in June 2024, pointing to the absence of a clear post-war strategy.

Eisenkot is the second of nine children and a father of five. His youngest son, Gal, 25, was killed fighting in Gaza two months into the war.

He has placed that singular promise at the heart of his political mission.

You can read more about the opposition’s strongest candidate here .

What issues are important to Israelis in this election?

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In Israel, security and accountability are powerful electoral forces after years of war. But opinion polls suggest the cost of living is also a leading concern for many voters — particularly for younger ones.

According to the latest Channel 12 poll, 21% of Israelis rank the economy and the cost of living as their top priority in the election — ahead of ultra-Orthodox conscription with 17%, the October 7, 2023, security failure at 14% and the war with Iran at 10%.

Despite these figures, the economy has not been a central theme in the campaign — until this weekend, when Netanyahu moved it to the top of the agenda. In an interview with Channel 10 focused on the economy, Netanyahu said Israel should prepare for possible international banking sanctions over Israeli settlements in the West Bank by developing “an economy that can circumvent them.” He said cryptocurrency and blockchain are being considered and that he has requested a plan to deal with it.

The Bank of Israel publicly rejected the idea, saying that “cryptocurrencies cannot serve as a means of circumventing sanctions.”

Netanyahu’s main rivals portrayed his proposal as evidence he expects Israel to become more isolated. Opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot, who mocked the idea as “BibiCoin,” called it a “threat to national security,” accusing Netanyahu of planning to “dismantle the Israeli economy for generations ahead.”

• 以色列正在进行一场被视为以色列历史上最重要的选举之一的投票，也是对总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡自 2023 年 10 月 7 日袭击事件以来领导能力的一次全民公投。

民意调查显示，选情胶着，难以预测，很可能无法决出胜负。最新民调显示，内塔尼亚胡与前军事首脑加迪·艾森科特之间的竞争异常激烈。

• 在以色列120个席位的议会（即克内塞特）中，从未有任何单一政党赢得过61个席位的多数席位。相反，政府是通过联盟组建的，而联盟的形成可能需要数周甚至数月的时间。

以色列人正在参加该国最重要的选举之一。

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以色列历史上最重要的选举之一已经开始投票。

选民们面临着一个熟悉的问题：以色列任期最长的总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡是否应该继续执政？

近几届大选几乎都变成了对内塔尼亚胡的一次全民公投。这一次，许多以色列人表示，这次的选择比以往任何时候都更加重要：不仅关乎谁将领导国家，更关乎国家的未来走向。

这是自 2023 年 10 月 7 日哈马斯领导的袭击事件（以色列历史上最致命的安全失败）以及随后在加沙、黎巴嫩和伊朗爆发的战争以来的首次全国投票——这些冲突动员了该国大部分地区，并随后加深了以色列的国际孤立。

对于许多选民来说，这是他们第一次有机会对导致 10 月 7 日失败的领导层进行评判，并决定谁应该在冲突中领导国家，并承担增加兵役的重担。

内塔尼亚胡即将卸任的政府——几十年来首个完整完成四年任期的政府——依靠极右翼和极端正统派盟友，将以色列推向了前所未有的民族主义和宗教化方向。他本人也成为首位因腐败指控受审的在任以色列总理，因为他的政府推行了旨在削弱最高法院和其他权力制衡机制的司法改革。这项改革在2023年引发了大规模抗议活动。

周二的选举结果将决定以色列是继续朝着民族主义、保守主义和宗教方向发展，还是改变路线。

由于以色列联合政府的组建方式，答案可能要几周后才能明朗。民调显示，内塔尼亚胡的联盟和反对派都不太可能单独赢得多数席位，这意味着此次投票可能引发以色列的下一场政治危机，而不是解决危机。

加迪·艾森科特是谁？他是内塔尼亚胡的主要挑战者。

Nir Elias/路透社/文件

以色列总理内塔尼亚胡在周二选举中的主要对手是一位政坛新人。然而，他的一项关键选举优势归根结底在于一个简单的道理：他不是内塔尼亚胡。

现年 66 岁的加迪·艾森科特 (Gadi Eisenkot) 一生大部分时间都在以色列军队中度过，他于 1978 年加入戈兰尼旅，并在 40 年的职业生涯中不断晋升，于 2015 年至 2019 年担任以色列总参谋长，在内塔尼亚胡的领导下任职。

他于2022年步入政坛，与另一位前幕僚长本尼·甘茨一同加入政坛。2023年10月7日哈马斯领导的袭击以色列后，两人加入了内塔尼亚胡的紧急战时内阁。但他们于2024年6月离职，理由是缺乏明确的战后战略。

艾森科特在家中九个孩子中排行第二，育有五个子女。他最小的儿子加尔，25岁，在战争爆发两个月后于加沙阵亡。

他将这一独特的承诺置于其政治使命的核心。

您可以点击此处阅读更多关于反对党最强候选人的信息。

在这次选举中，以色列人最关心哪些问题？

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

在以色列，经历了多年的战争之后，安全和问责制已成为强大的选举动力。但民意调查显示，生活成本也是许多选民——尤其是年轻选民——最为关注的问题。

根据第 12 频道的最新民意调查，21% 的以色列人将经济和生活成本列为选举中的首要任务——其次是极端正统派征兵（17%）、2023 年 10 月 7 日的安全失败（14%）以及与伊朗的战争（10%）。

尽管有这些数据，经济问题在竞选活动中一直并非核心议题——直到本周末，内塔尼亚胡才将其置于首要位置。在接受以色列第十频道关于经济问题的采访时，内塔尼亚胡表示，以色列应该为可能因西岸定居点而遭受的国际银行制裁做好准备，发展“能够规避制裁的经济体系”。他表示，以色列正在考虑加密货币和区块链技术，并已要求制定应对方案。

以色列银行公开驳斥了这一想法，称“加密货币不能作为规避制裁的手段”。

内塔尼亚胡的主要竞争对手将他的提议解读为他预期以色列将变得更加孤立的证据。反对派候选人加迪·艾森科特嘲讽这一想法为“内塔尼亚胡币”，称其为“对国家安全的威胁”，并指责内塔尼亚胡计划“摧毁以色列未来几代人的经济”。