Netanyahu Fights for Political Survival as Israelis Vote in Tight Election

Israelis voted on Tuesday in an election that could decide the future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is weighing a bid to extend a record 19 years in office. Voters are judging his leadership after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks, wars in Gaza and with Iran, and Israel's growing international isolation.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time and close at 10 p.m. According to the Israeli Central Election Committee, 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote, including about 330,000 first-time voters.

Opinion polls show a tight race between Netanyahu's Likud and its right-wing allies and a rival alliance headed by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and security hawk who has support on both the right and in the centre. Despite the pressure on him, Netanyahu is a proven political survivor, and Israel's fragmented system could still leave him best placed to assemble a government.

Netanyahu has campaigned on his wartime leadership and his alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has endorsed him and joined Israel in the war on Iran. On Sunday, Netanyahu said Trump was prepared to act again to "finally" remove the Iranian threat, but only if Netanyahu stayed in power. Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of "relying on a campaign of fear-mongering, lies and threats" and said he was confident Trump would work "in full co-operation with any leader chosen by the people."

Neither man has a clear route to power in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu may again need the far-right leaders Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have faced sanctions from some Western countries over accusations of inciting violence against Palestinians. Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party has gained ground in polls. If no one can form a coalition, Netanyahu could remain as caretaker until another election next year.

For many of his opponents, the vote is about accountability for the security failures of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel's deadliest day. Eisenkot supporter Mali Hajaj, an Education Ministry employee, said "the most important thing is the establishment of a national inquiry because that's where our healing will come from." Nof Gabay, an 18-year-old Likud supporter, rejected the idea that Netanyahu is to blame and called him "the right man for the state of Israel."

Israeli government tallies say Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7 and took 251 hostage. Gaza health authorities say Israeli attacks since then have killed 74,000 people. Israel has also struck Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and traded strikes with Iran, before a 12-day aerial campaign against Iranian nuclear sites in 2025 and this year's joint U.S.-Israeli war. Eisenkot has said the next government must stop Iran from acquiring a military nuclear capability, by force or through an "arrangement" such as a U.S.-backed diplomatic solution.

Like nearly all Jewish-led parties in Israel, Eisenkot opposes the two-state solution. He has, however, criticized Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which has surged since 2023 and strained Israel's ties with Western states. He also opposes Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. Some disenchanted voters in Likud strongholds have gone door to door urging others to turn away from Netanyahu, who denies the corruption charges he faces in a long-running criminal trial.

High turnout among Israel's Arab minority could shift the coalition arithmetic toward Eisenkot. He has ruled out partnering with Arab parties, citing a lack of shared values, but analysts see a scenario in which they prop up a minority government under his leadership to ensure Netanyahu is removed. Analyst Amotz Asa-El of the Shalom Hartman Institute said he expects "only a slight majority either way. No landslide."