Israel goes to the polls in decisive elections

Polling stations opened their doors at 7 a.m. in Israel and the West Bank. Voting will end at 10 p.m., although the count is expected to be long and tight.

The latest polls give victory to Yashar, the party of former Army chief Gadi Eisenkot, with 23 seats. The soldier, of Moroccan origin, could narrowly defeat the current Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu.

In Israel there is no day of reflection, and candidates can campaign even on the day of the vote. Eisenkot began the morning at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit by the Hamas attack on October 7, alongside Gadi Mozes, an 81-year-old former hostage. “If anyone in the Government had an ounce of responsibility, they would have started their morning here,” he launched.

Netanyahu has not yet voted, but his partners have gone to the polls with a message of alarm. Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, voted in the settlement of Kiryat Arba and warned that an opposition victory would bring “a government of Mansour Abbas,” head of the Arab Ra'am party. Bezalel Smotrich, from the Kedumim colony, asked not to waste votes on parties that do not exceed the electoral threshold. “We do not play with our security, our existence or our identity.”

The opposition, on the other hand, promises historic change. "We are a nation of lions that on October 7 came out to save the country when there was no government. Today, October 27, it comes out to save it again," said former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Ra'anana. Ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, who voted in the Nokdim neighborhood, called for an end to “the era of Netanyahu and ultra-Orthodox rule.”

The Arab vote can be decisive. Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Joint List, has promised to support from the outside any government capable of replacing Netanyahu. “Arab society believes in its ability to bring about change and send the fascist government home,” he said.

The day is not free of controversy either. Bennett's party has complained to the Central Election Commission that Likud representatives monitor voters at polling stations with a mobile application, a practice that the Supreme Court banned last week. The Commission assures that, for now, it has not received any complaint confirming this.