Israel votes: Netanyahu faces Eisenkot in first election since October 7
Israelis vote Tuesday in the first Israel election since the October 7, 2023 attack, with final polls showing Netanyahu level with rival Gadi Eisenkot.
Polls opened across Israel on Tuesday for a deeply divided general election, the first since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and a test for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s growing shift to the right.
The latest published opinion polls show Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, tied with his main challenger, the centrist Gadi Eisenkot. A former chief of staff and a newcomer to politics, Eisenkot is seen as calm by temperament, a contrast with the incumbent’s style.
Three years of regional wars on several fronts followed the October 7 attack. The shock remains vivid, and questions of accountability and security have dominated the campaign.
Israel heads into the tightly fought contest looking increasingly isolated internationally, over its devastating military campaign in Gaza, accelerating settlement construction and rising violence in the occupied West Bank, as well as the growth of hardline religious nationalism on the right.
