Voters in Israel are deciding whether to oust Netanyahu after 3 years of
war
[October 27, 2026]
By TIA GOLDENBERG and CARA ANNA
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as
their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas'
2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the
right person to lead it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing off against an array of
parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls
have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief
Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote.
In Israel's fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever
won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge
coalitions.
There is a chance that neither Netanyahu's religious and
ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties looking to remove
him has enough support to win a parliamentary majority. That could set
off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared.
Israel's Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers if they agree to
support one candidate over the other — and if other parties agree to
join forces with them.
“Our vote will change the government,” Mansour Abbas, head of the
Islamist Ra’am party, said while voting, adding that he hoped turnout
would surpass 70% in Arab communities.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, known
for taunting Palestinian detainees and saying some Palestinians in Gaza
are “not even people,” warned after casting his ballot that “it will be
Mansour Abbas’ government” if Netanyahu and his allies don't win.
Emotions run high among some voters
Already, some emotions were high. In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu
stronghold near the border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a
poster of Eisenkot.
Hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran. Netanyahu
ramped up threats against the country ahead of the vote. He appeared in
a video this week standing beside a missile-defense battery and warned
Tehran it would face “a devastating blow” if it attacked Israel.
The election is Israel's first national vote since the Oct. 7, 2023,
attack that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts across the
region. In Tel Aviv, families of some of those killed on Oct. 7 or
former hostages held a moment of silence before polls opened. “Remember
all those whose voices are no more,” said Yona Adam, whose daughter
Mapal Adam was killed.
Eisenkot early Tuesday was visiting communities attacked on Oct. 7. “If
someone in the government had a shred of responsibility, they would
start the morning here in the Gaza envelope,” he said, while Netanyahu
had not yet been seen in public three hours after polls opened.
Around 330,000 young Israelis, many facing compulsory military service
under the shadow of war, are eligible to vote for the first time.
The vote serves not only as a referendum on Netanyahu's lengthy
leadership but also on what kind of country Israel should be — heavily
influenced by religious and nationalist forces, or more firmly anchored
in liberal and secular values. Tens of thousands of voters living
overseas reportedly flew to Israel to vote.
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Voters arrive to cast their ballots in Israel's general election, in
Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
At stake is the fate of a country whose policies and leadership are
being sharply criticized by its traditional allies. Since the 2023
attack, Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its
conduct in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank, where violence by
Jewish settlers has intensified. Public support among Americans has
plummeted and stalwart partners in Europe and elsewhere have slapped
sanctions on Israel in recent months.
Security, military conscription and integrity are top issues
For Israelis, the election presents a chance at charting the
country's course after Netanyahu's latest, and especially turbulent,
four-year term.
Netanyahu's supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate
statesman who they believe has triumphantly guided Israel through
multiple wars. They think he is protecting Israel’s Jewish identity
while keeping in check what they see as an interventionist
judiciary.
His Israeli detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by
an ongoing corruption trial, dragged on the war in Gaza and its
hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is undermining
Israel's independent judiciary and weakening its democratic
underpinnings. And they accuse him of abetting a system that has
allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid enlistment in
Israel's compulsory military.
“The present government is driving the country into the ground,”
voter Angela Bengur said in Jerusalem.
Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling
security credentials who, along with his likely governing partners,
could act as a bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone
personally touched by the conflict — his son and two nephews were
killed in Gaza — his backers believe that he feels deeply the pain
that still courses through Israel three years after the attacks.
Parties that would likely throw their support behind Eisenkot have
vowed to improve Israel's international standing and work to
conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of
the judiciary.
The elections are about “who serves and who evades service — who
takes an active part in building this country and who doesn’t," said
voter Nisso Shitrit in Jaffa.
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Associated Press writers across Israel contributed.
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