THE WASHINGTON POST: Israelis head to the polls, with nation’s future and Netanyahu’s fate on the line

Israelis from Tel Aviv and West Bank settlements, from Jerusalem and overseas, poured into polling booths Tuesday to vote in a pivotal election widely seen as a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, and his response to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

The election, the first since the Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people and ignited three years of regional war, has centered on Netanyahu’s stewardship of national security and the economy at a time when Israel remains locked in military conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and faces heavy international criticism.

In the eyes of Netanyahu’s supporters - or “Bibi-ists” - the veteran statesman they call “Mr. Security” successfully seized half of Gaza, dramatically expanded West Bank settlements, decimated Hezbollah in Lebanon and coaxed President Donald Trump into going to war against Iran - all while offering a full-throated defense of Israel against accusations of war crimes and genocide.

But a growing number of critics say Netanyahu must be held accountable for the security lapses that failed to prevent Oct. 7, the worst attack in Israel’s history. They say that Netanyahu has diminished Israel’s global standing by joining hands with far-right religious nationalists who promote the seizure of occupied Palestinian territory.

In addition, they accuse him of sapping the country’s armed forces and fracturing Israeli society by supporting ultra-Orthodox Jews who resist military service.

Many of those who seek change have rallied around the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a centrist former military chief who, according to final polls this week, was running slightly ahead of Netanyahu.

Heading a sprawling bloc that ranges from Naftali Bennett, a religious former prime minister, to Yair Golan, a dovish general, Eisenkot has pledged to investigate Netanyahu over his response to Oct. 7, to force the ultra-Orthodox to enlist and to rein in violent settlers in the West Bank.

On Tuesday, the broad canvas of Israeli democracy was on open display as long queues of voters streamed out of ballot stations in schools and public buildings. As of 10 a.m. local time, turnout was the highest it has been since 1981, Israel’s Central Election Commission said.

At the Tel Aviv airport’s arrivals hall, which have been packed in recent days by an estimated 70,000 Israelis returning to vote, Adva Sinai, 42, said dozens of her Israeli friends from Italy had already flown back. Sinai traveled just in time from Milan on Tuesday morning, she said, to vote - “and go out tonight to celebrate a change.”

What change? “Anyone but Bibi,” she said.

Change, however, is far from certain. The tight election contest and the complicated math of Israeli’s parliamentary system suggest that none of the major party blocs is positioned to win the 61 seats required to form a majority government. That means the ultimate outcome of the vote may not been known for days or even weeks after the polls close at 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

In the West Bank, a hilltop settler and activist, Elyesha Yered, posted a picture of himself casting a blue ballot and urging his followers to “go out and vote so that we may have the breathing room to continue our work with full force - to replicate, and with God’s help, even double, what has been achieved here over the past four years.”

“Believe me: a left-wing government will not only fail to stand by your side during crises or curb the system’s harassment - it will actively fight against you, with a knife between its teeth,” Yered warned.

In Jerusalem, two polling stations less than a mile apart but separated by Route 60 represented one of the chasms of Israeli politics - Palestinian citizens of Israel voting on one side of the road, ultra-Orthodox Jews on the other.

At a community center in Mea Shearim, one of Jerusalem’s largest ultra-Orthodox enclaves, voters lined up in family groups.

Nachman, a 45-year-old Yeshiva student, said he came early to vote for the United Torah Judaism party at the instruction of his rabbi, Eliezer Berland.

Nachman’s vote could be significant - the UTJ recently pulled out of Netanyahu’s governing coalition over the prime minister’s failure to enact sweeping military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men. Like other voters interviewed on Tuesday, Nachman spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name to protect the confidentiality of his vote.

“I have no problem with Netanyahu,” Nachman said. “I think Netanyahu has a problem with God.”

Across Route 60, at a school in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, several voters expressed fatalism about the election. A father and two adult sons said they feared that neither their votes, nor the final election results, would lead to any change in East Jerusalem, where they say police crackdowns have encroached on life for generations.

The father, Ali, and his sons said they all voted for the United Arab List, a mostly Palestinian-Israeli party that could join Eisenkot’s bloc to form a parliamentary majority. The family said they did not dare to hope for the defeat of Netanyahu but were hoping for the departure of Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right security minister in Netanyahu’s coalition whom they blame for police oppression.

“You vote,” Ali said, “but you stop expecting anything to get better.”

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