Israel votes in first election since October 2023 attacks

Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday for legislative elections, the first since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023 and the war in Gaza that followed. The vote is widely described as one of the most important in the country's history.

Two main blocs are competing. One is the pro-Netanyahu coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and joined by far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, including United Torah Judaism, Shas, Otzma Yehudi and Religious Zionism-Zehut. The other is an opposition alliance of four Jewish-led movements: Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar, Yair Golan's Democrats, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and the Together alliance of Naftali Bennett, joined by Yair Lapid.

Polls published before the ban on new surveys took effect on Friday showed neither bloc on course for the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. According to Al Jazeera, a poll by the public broadcaster KAN projected 52 seats for the opposition alliance and 50 for Netanyahu's bloc. The remainder would go to other parties, including the two main Arab-majority lists, Ra'am and the Joint List. Both major blocs have effectively ruled out working with them for now. A party needs 3.25 percent of the vote to enter parliament.

Al Jazeera reports that if coalition talks fail, Israel could end up with a minority government or another election. BBC Urdu says half a million people are voting for the first time and that, according to reports, about 70,000 Israelis are travelling from abroad just to vote.

Netanyahu has run a campaign centred on security, with the slogan "no one will surrender", according to BBC Urdu. He has said Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have reduced threats to the country's existence. Eisenkot, a former chief of staff who lost a son in the Gaza war, says the election is about security, the economy, education and what kind of state Israel should be. He has promised a state commission of inquiry into the October 2023 attacks and enforcement of court rulings on drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into military service.

Domestic concerns include accountability for security failures before the attacks, anger over the ultra-Orthodox military exemption, and Netanyahu's efforts at judicial changes that critics say weaken democratic institutions. Netanyahu says the Supreme Court would be biased against him.

Netanyahu has led Israel for a total of 19 years. He faces corruption charges he has contested since 2019 and an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes. About 7.3 million citizens are eligible to vote, including roughly 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel. Al Jazeera notes that Israel's international standing has weakened, and that dozens of envoys walked out when Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly on September 24.