Israel votes in first national election since October 7 attacks

Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday, October 27, to elect a new parliament. It is the first national election since the October 7 attacks and the Gaza war that followed, and the Independent describes it as the first chance for voters to give a verdict on what it calls the worst security failure in generations.

According to the Independent, polls published on Friday put the governing far-right coalition almost level with the main opposition bloc built around Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief. About half a million first-time voters are due to cast ballots. The paper adds that almost all Jewish-led parties now oppose the two-state solution that has long shaped diplomacy with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 77. On the eve of the vote he spoke of an endorsement from US President Donald Trump, suggesting Trump was willing to act against Iran, but only if Netanyahu stays in power. The Independent reports that the White House said the United States would not attack Iran at any time before the American midterm elections in November.

The BBC notes that a week after Israel votes, Americans will elect a new Congress. It says the two elections are intertwined. A lobby group, Republicans Overseas Israel, estimates that about half a million Israelis with American passports can vote in both. Its chairman, Marc Zell, told the BBC that around 10,000 absentee ballots could be cast from Israel in the Michigan Senate race.

The BBC says Netanyahu has used the campaign to talk up a possible fresh attack on Iran and has made claims about Iran's nuclear threat without giving evidence. Trump has said both men should soon finish the job in Iran, though the BBC also cites contradictory reports that he restrained Netanyahu before polling day. Eisenkot has ruled out joining a unity government and warned against escalating the war for political purposes.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote in the Financial Times that new attacks would put civilian lives and the global economy at great risk, according to the BBC. The BBC also says the economy is an election issue in Israel, where voters face high costs and low wages and defence spending is rising.

Because Israelis cannot vote from abroad, France 24 reports that tens of thousands of expats are expected to fly home. A Fly and Vote initiative helps them organise trips, and a petition by Netanyahu's Likud party to restrict it failed. With polls predicting a tight race, France 24 says every vote could count.