Israelis headed to voting centers on Tuesday, October 27, in legislative elections to choose the members of the parliament, known as the Knesset.
The event marks Israel’s first general election since the October 7 attacks, which Netanyahu’s government expanded into a multi-front regional war.
For many, these elections serve as a direct referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right bloc he heads.
This bloc comprises the National Liberal Party (Likud) led by Netanyahu, the Religious Zionist Party (HaTzionut HaDatit) led by current Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Jewish Power Party (Otzma Yehudit) led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The coalition advocates for the consolidation of Israeli rule throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, explicitly rejects the possibility of Palestinian statehood, promotes the expansion of settlements and the implementation of hardline security measures against Palestinians. It also calls for disavowing the Oslo Accords, and the total disarmament of Hamas.
The primary competitor to Netanyahu and his coalition is the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of the Israeli forces. It represents a center-right to center-left opposition when it comes to Israeli internal affairs, but of course not to Palestinians and their destiny.
Eisenkot is the architect of the “Dahiya Doctrine,” an Israeli military strategy that calls for applying massive, disproportionate firepower and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in order to create long-term deterrence, and discourage the local population from supporting any force resisting Israel.
He was also a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet for the first eight months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Eisenkot’s bloc includes the Yashar Party, led by Eisenkot, and the Together alliance (Beyachad), led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett. It also includes The Democrats (HaDemokratim) – a merger of the Labor and Meretz parties – led by Yair Golan, a retired IDF Major General.
Israel Is Our Home Party (Yisrael Beiteinu) led by Avigdor Liberman, is also part of Eisenkot’s coalition.
Liberman, who formerly held ministerial portfolios in the Israeli government as minister of finance, defense, foreign affairs, strategic affairs, transportation, and national infrastructure alongside being a deputy prime minister, is known for his hawkish stances towards Palestinians.
Defending the use of live ammunition by Israeli forces against Palestinian demonstrators during the 2018 Gaza border protests (known as the Great March of Return), Liberman stated:
“There are no innocents in Gaza.”
Although the components of this coalition are united by their goal to oust Netanyahu, they remain deeply aligned with their political rival’s traditional right-wing stance regarding the Palestinian cause.
The coalition opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state, while supporting the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and other parts of West Asia, and maintaining existing settlement frameworks.
Some of the coalition’s affiliated parties further encourage separating Israeli and Palestinian populations, and retaining complete Israeli security control over strategic areas such as the Jordan Valley. They also demand the full demilitarization of any future Palestinian entity.
Others call for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, the annexation of Area C in the West Bank, and the entrenchment of discriminatory policies against Arab citizens in Israel.
The Arab-led lists represent the minority of Palestinian citizens in Israel (also known as Arab-Israelis), a community that makes up roughly 21% of Israel’s total population, estimated at 10.3 million.
Even though both lists fight for the same minority group’s rights, they hold opposing views on the goals, values, and strategy needed to represent them effectively.
While representing a minority, these lists hold a critical and often polarizing role in Israeli elections, as they frequently act as a critical balance of power that strongly determines whether a governing coalition can be formed.
These lists include the Joint List and the United Arab List.
The Joint List consists of:
The coalition advocates for Palestinian self-determination and civil rights, for an end to the Israeli occupation, and for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
It also demands full legal equality and state recognition for Palestinian Arab citizens as an indigenous national minority, and calls for immediate government and law enforcement intervention to curb the increase in organized crime in Arab municipalities.
Structural reforms to secure building rights, expand municipal boundaries, and stop punitive home demolitions are top priorities on the Joint List’s agenda.
The United Arab List (Ra’am) is an Islamist and conservative political party led by Mansour Abbas, a prominent Palestinian politician, whose party was the first independent Arab-Muslim faction to join an Israeli government.
Unlike traditional Arab political lists, Ra’am demonstrates a willingness to ally with Jewish political parties in government. It uses a pragmatic, integration-focused strategy to gain political influence and enhance the socioeconomic wellbeing of Arab-Israeli citizens.
Ra’am prioritizes the immediate domestic needs of Arab communities inside Israel, such as fighting local organized crime, improving public infrastructure, securing budgets, and resolving housing issues.
Media reports indicated that Arab citizens voted in numbers not seen in decades, which in turn pushed Netanyahu to launch an urgent social media campaign, warning of the growing participation of Arabs.
Urging his supporters to go out and vote, Netanyahu appeared in a video, accusing Ra’am of bribing voters with envelopes of cash in the southern areas occupied by Israel.
“My brothers and sisters, Likud voters, this is an emergency call, because they are trying to steal the election from us. This morning, the police announced something serious and unusual. They caught three of Ra’am’s senior financial figures with envelopes of cash in the south. This is criminal. They will get to everyone. You have been warned, the voter turnout in the Arab sector in the south is incomparably higher than in the Jewish sector. You must go out and vote,” Netanyahu said.
He also claimed that left-wing women escorted Arab women to the polls.
Shortly before polls closed at 10:00 pm local time, the final reported voter turnout reached 74.3%, the highest in decades, with exit polls showing no clear winner, and pointing to a political deadlock.
It is expected that the final tally and initial results will be published between Thursday afternoon, October 29, and Friday morning, October 30, while the official results will be announced on November 4, 2026.
While many are looking forward to the loss of Netanyahu’s bloc in the elections, hoping that a new government will be less brutal against Palestinians and people across the West Asia region, analysts suggest that Eisenkot’s bloc adopts the same Zionist ethnic cleansing-based ideology.
In an interview with BreakThrough News, Israeli-American author, activist and founder of Palestine House of Freedom Miko Peled argued that there are no differences between the two competing blocs when it comes to issues like Israel’s war on Iran, the mass killing in Gaza, forcing Palestinians to flee the besieged enclave. Meanwhile, disputes on the internal Israeli issues – mainly the draft of ultra-orthodox jews in the military and initiating an independent inquiry into the failure of the army and intelligence on the October 7 attacks – remain serious.
“Esclusivo – La toga che ha liberato Siher ha firmato un appello per Gaza“. Non si è fatto attendere il dossieraggio nei confronti di Tiziana Landoni, la gip di Milano che ha rimesso in libertà il 30enne accusato di istigazione a delinquere con finalità di terrorismo. Nel tentativo di mettere in dubbio l’imparzialità della giudice, però, tutto ciò che la stampa di destra ha trovato è la sua firma in calce a un “Appello di giuristi per Gaza”, pubblicato a settembre per invocare “la tutela dei diritti umani e la persecuzione dei crimini contro l’umanità” compiuti da Israele nell’enclave palestinese. Secondo Il Giornale, che pubblica la “notizia”, questa circostanza dovrebbe “far riflettere sulla decisione” adottata. Per quale motivo? L’articolo non lo dice, ein effetti risulta assai difficile trovare ragioni di inopportunità nel testo dell’appello, che si limita a ricordare l’impegno della comunità internazionale al perseguimento dei crimini di guerra e contro l’umanità, contenuto nel Preambolo dello Statuto della Corte penale internazionale. Soprattutto, però, il quotidiano omette – o forse non conosce – un elemento che smonta la tesi implicita nel pezzo: a firmare quell’appello, infatti, fu anche Francesca Crupi, la pm che ha disposto il fermo nei confronti di Siher e avrebbe voluto per lui la custodia cautelare in carcere. A dimostrazione che schierarsi contro il genocidio di Gaza non vuol dire necessariamente essere amici dei delinquenti.
Ecco il testo integrale dell’appello:
Di fronte alle notizie sulla violazione sistematica e protratta del diritto alla vita e degli altri diritti fondamentali della popolazione civile di Gaza, il silenzio ha smesso da tempo di essere un’opzione. Come giuristi, sentiamo il dovere di ricordare che lo Stato italiano, per Costituzione e per legge, e con l’adesione a trattati e convenzioni, ha scelto la tutela dei diritti fondamentali e la persecuzione dei crimini internazionali. Le ragioni di questa scelta sono tra l’altro compendiate nello Statuto della Corte penale internazionale, firmato a Roma nel 1998, sottoscritto da 125 Paesi, e ratificato con legge dello Stato nel 1999. Vogliamo ricordare queste ragioni, unitamente ai rappresentanti dell’avvocatura e dell’università che vorranno aderire, leggendo ogni giorno – nelle aule d’udienza e in quelle universitarie – il preambolo allo Statuto della Corte penale internazionale, per testimoniare che le coscienze di chi ogni giorno contribuisce all’amministrazione della giustizia non sono indifferenti alle ingiustizie perpetrate nei confronti dei più deboli, e per fare appello a tutte le istituzioni perché si pretenda il rispetto del diritto e dei diritti fondamentali dei civili.
Seguiva il testo che i firmatari si proponevano di leggere all’inizio di ogni udienza.
“Preliminarmente, il Tribunale intende oggi ricordare quanto enunciato nella Legge 12 luglio 1999, n. 232, di ratifica ed esecuzione dello statuto istitutivo della Corte penale internazionale, e segnatamente nel suo Preambolo.
“Consapevoli che tutti i popoli sono uniti da stretti vincoli e che le loro culture formano un patrimonio da tutti condiviso, un delicato mosaico che rischia in ogni momento di essere distrutto;
Memori che nel corso di questo secolo, milioni di bambini, donne e uomini sono stati vittime di atrocità inimmaginabili che turbano profondamente la coscienza dell’umanità;
Riconoscendo che crimini di tale gravità minacciano la pace, la sicurezza ed il benessere del mondo;
Affermando che i delitti più gravi che riguardano l’insieme della comunità internazionale non possono rimanere impuniti e che la loro repressione deve essere efficacemente garantita mediante provvedimenti adottati in ambito nazionale ed attraverso il rafforzamento della cooperazione internazionale;
Determinati a porre termine all’impunità degli autori di tali crimini contribuendo in tal modo alla prevenzione di nuovi crimini;
Rammentando che è dovere di ciascuno Stato esercitare la propria giurisdizione penale nei confronti dei responsabili di crimini internazionali”,
procediamo con la trattazione dell’odierna udienza”.
L'articolo Il Giornale contro la gip di Siher: “Firmò un appello per Gaza”. Ma c’era anche la firma della pm che ha chiesto il carcere proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Il governo italiano ha aderito a una dichiarazione congiunta siglata da otto Paesi (tra cui Francia, Germania, Regno Unito, Canada e Giappone) per ribadire il proprio sostegno alla Corte Penale Internazionale e contestare le misure restrittive decise da Washington a ottobre, quando l’amministrazione Trump ha annunciato sanzioni alla Cpi nelle stesse ore dell’assegnazione del Premio Nobel per la Pace 2026 a Navanethem Navi Pillay, giurista sudafricana già giudice della medesima Corte e Alta commissaria delle Nazioni Unite per i diritti umani. Ma Giorgia Meloni in prima persona ha evitato di condannare fermamente la scelta. Tanto è vero che adesso che si tratta di votare in Parlamento, il centrodestra si muove tra l’ambiguità e il rinvio.
Martedì l’aula della Camera doveva votare una proposta di legge del centrosinistra, sottoscritta dal campo larghissimo (Pd-M5S-Avs-Italia viva e più Europa) ma non se n’è fatto nulla. Il testo si riferiva sia alle sanzioni dello scorso ottobre, sia al fatto che il 6 febbraio 2025 il presidente degli Stati Uniti emanava l’ordine esecutivo n. 14203, sulla base del quale sono state emesse sanzioni, tra gli altri, contro il procuratore capo, i due viceprocuratori e altri otto magistrati della Corte. In particolare, Washington accusava la Corte di aver “intrapreso azioni illegittime e prive di basi prendendo di mira l’America e il suo stretto alleato Israele”, riferendosi al mandato di cattura spiccato nei confronti di Benjamin Netanyahu e dell’ex Ministro della difesa, Yoav Gallant, per i crimini commessi ai danni della popolazione di Gaza, e volutamente ignorando che la Corte, contestualmente, spiccava analoghi mandati nei confronti di tre figure apicali di Hamas.
La proposta di legge del centrosinistra impegna il governo a criticare duramente questa iniziativa. In particolare “a esercitare una forte pressione in tutti i consessi europei e internazionali, oltre che nei rapporti bilaterali, affinché gli Stati Uniti rimuovano tutte le sanzioni contro la Corte penale internazionale emesse dall’Amministrazione Trump, sia quelle con l’ordine esecutivo n. 14203, sia quelle annunciate il 9 ottobre 2026”. E anche “ad adoperarsi affinché la Commissione europea proceda senza indugio all’adozione degli atti necessari a rendere applicabile alle sanzioni statunitensi contro la Corte penale internazionale lo ‘Statuto di blocco’ dell’Unione europea”.
Su questi punti il centrosinistra aveva cercato una convergenza con il centrodestra. Nulla di fatto. Non solo. Martedì, a urne aperte in Israele, la maggioranza ha fatto rimandare il voto dicendo di “non essere pronta” (ma il testo era stato presentato ad agosto) e di non voler creare “ricadute” sullo scenario internazionale. Esisteva una proposta di legge alternativa del centrodestra, ma la Lega non era intenzionata a votare neanche la generica condanna di Netanyahu. Ma l’opposizione insiste: la prossima settimana in Aula si vota l’urgenza; da vedere – a elezioni passate in Israele – cosa farà il centrodestra.
L'articolo L’Italia firma con altri 8 Paesi il proprio sostegno alla Cpi dopo le sanzioni di Washington. Ma in Parlamento la maggioranza evita il voto contro Trump proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Any talk of EU sanctions on Israel is in limbo until a new government emerges, as experts warn that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu could attack Iran in a “matter of days” to improve his chances of retaining power.
Netanyahu is to stay on in a caretaker role for several weeks or months of coalition talks after inconclusive elections on Tuesday (27 October), which saw his rightwing bloc win the most seats (53 seats out of 120), but fall short of a majority.
The elections took place amid ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
And this was expected to continue or get worse in the post-election power struggle, as Netanyahu courted the eight defector-MPs he needed to stay in power, by playing on security fears.
This article continues, but the full version is available only to EUobserver.com subscribers. Visit account.euobserver.com/membership
The Israeli military killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, one day after parliamentary elections—elections that failed to halt Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
RELATED:
Gaza Camp Fire Leaves More Than 800 Homeless After Drone Strike
A medical source at Nasser Hospital confirmed to EFE that 33-year-old Mohamed Alyan al-Bayouk was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Bayouk neighborhood in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The bombardment also left six people wounded.
In a separate Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi, in the southern part of Rafah, three Palestinians lost their lives and seven were wounded—three of whom are in critical condition—the same medical source stated.
At that location, Israeli drones struck a police checkpoint belonging to the Gazan Ministry of Economy, which is responsible for managing the movement of trucks entering the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side.
🇵🇸💢 Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, including a 6-year-old girl, according to Palestinian news site Felesteen.
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 28, 2026
Those killed include:
➤ Tahani Mohammed Saeed Shalalfa, a girl, 6, who died of a gunshot wound from Israeli fire in al-Mawasi, the…
Despite a ceasefire—ostensibly in effect since October 10, 2025—more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks and fire within the enclave. Furthermore, at least 1.8 million people remain displaced from their homes, most living in tents near the Mediterranean Sea, where they now face their fourth winter.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 74,500 Gazans, according to data from the local Ministry of Health. The majority were civilians, and the victims include more than 20,000 minors.
Most of Gaza remains devastated. Hospitals continue to operate only partially, relying on their own power-generation equipment, while children attend classes in tents. The continued Israeli bombardment makes it clear that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains critical, with a civilian population that is displaced, wounded, and exposed to further attacks.
Dear readers,
We are back with a new issue of the Secrecy Tracker – your regular update on what the EU institutions prefer to keep under wraps.
I am Alexander Fanta, a journalist with Follow the Money, who has struggled for years to gain access to EU documents. I wrote this newsletter with the help of EUobserver’s Nikolaj Nielsen and Pascal Hansens from Investigate Europe.
This newsletter is a collaboration between EUobserver, Follow the Money and Investigate Europe.
Media outlets, journalist associations and press freedom organisations have penned an open letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to voice their frustration about the recent deterioration in the EU’s freedom of information.
The letter, which was co-signed by the publishers of this newsletter – Follow the Money, EUobserver and Investigate Europe – urges the commission to end the silent crisis that has hampered journalists finding the documents they need to scrutinise matters of public importance – such as how the member states (mis-)spent billions of euros in post-Covid recovery funds, or how the commission hides its arms research cooperation with Israel.
The signatories of the letter include press lobby groups such as the International Federation of Journalists, but also some of the weightiest voices in investigative journalism – the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
The letter asks the commission to address the excessive redactions and long delays journalists face when asking for documents under the EU’s freedom of information law, Regulation 1049/2001, as well as the Commission’s failure to keep crucial documents – think von der Leyen’s texts with Pfizer chief Albert Bourla.
Moreover, the commission should reverse a controversial change to its internal rules of procedure in 2024 which made access requests more difficult by limiting the definition of what is considered “a document”, and putting entire areas of the commission’s work – such as enforcement of its Big Tech laws – out of bounds from access requests.
The leading figure behind the letter, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Tom Gibson, has asked von der Leyen’s cabinet for a meeting to discuss these issues, and seek improvements.
“The European Commission purports to uphold press freedom in Europe as well as through its external policy”, Gibson said. “Yet, in Brussels, we see that the European Commission is seeking to actually put obstacles in the way of creating an enabling environment for journalists who report on the institutions – in order, seemingly, to maintain an ability to control the official narrative.”
“This has to change otherwise the European Commission can be accused of double standards”, according to Gibson.
Last week, the European Ombudswoman, an administrative watchdog, launched a probe into EUobserver’s complaint against the European Commission. The Brussels-executive had refused to release 17 documents it has on how the EU spent money on bricks-and-mortar projects in Gaza.
We had first asked in February as part of an investigation that sought to get an idea to what extent the Israelis destroyed EU-funded infrastructure in the Strip. We were stonewalled, amid arguments there is no overriding public interest even though tens of thousands of people have been killed, triggering massive Europe-wide protests and flotillas. Our appeal went unanswered.
Now EU ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho is demanding, as a first step, a commission response to our appeal by November 4 latest. If the commission still fails to deliver, she will review the documents herself.
The secrecy surrounding data centres’ environmental footprint is coming under increasing scrutiny. In April, Investigate Europe broke the news, and reported in this newsletter, that a provision in a delegated act to the energy efficiency directive, which keeps key information of data centres environmental impact secret, likely violates transparency obligations under the Aarhus convention.
Now, Lighthouse Reports has published a story that they are formally challenging the law. Frustrated by facing repeated refusals from more than a dozen EU member states and the European Commission to access data on energy consumption by data centres across Europe, collected under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).
Lighthouse Reports decided last September to turn to the Aarhus Convention – a binding treaty aims to protect access to environmental information and is often used as a last resort solution – and its compliance committee to seek disclosure. Lighthouse Reports may face a long wait for a ruling though, as the process can take years.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJUE) has challenged the European Ombudsman’s authority to investigate its refusal to disclose past financial declarations of interests of its judges and advocates general, according to a decision published today by the EU’s transparency watchdog.
The dispute began after Investigate Europe reporters, while investigating judges’ currently declared financial interests, discovered that older declarations were no longer publicly available. The Court initially refused, arguing that those documents were judicial and not administrative ones, and therefore fell outside the rules on public access to documents.
Following our complaint to the ombudswoman and its subsequent decision to open an inquiry, the court eventually agreed to release the requested former declarations, but only upon request. So Teresa Anjinho closed the case, as she considered that the court remedied the problematic situation.
The ombudswoman firmly rejected the court’s interpretation: handling public access requests is an administrative activity, regardless of the nature of the documents concerned. She also called for greater clarity on how the court distinguished between judicial and administrative documents.
So a small victory for transparency, but a broader question remains: should the EU’s top court have such discretion over which of its own internal documents face public scrutiny?
A new guide promises to give journalists (and anyone else) an easy introduction into making freedom of information requests in 39 European countries and with the EU.
The first-of-its-kind compendium, curated and co-written by yours truly with the help of 45 journalists, academics and FOI advocates from around the continent and published by Arena for Journalism, answers practical questions such as “how can I appeal” and provides contacts who can help in each country.
Find the guide – free to use and share – under this link.
The vote for the 26th Knesset serves as a crucial referendum on the state’s institutions, economy, and military strategy.
The legislative elections for the 26th Knesset, the legislative power, take place at a critical political crossroads for Israel. Scheduled as the first parliamentary contest since the outbreak of hostilities against Gaza following the events of October 7, 2023, these elections serve as a national referendum on the governance model of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
RELATED:
Israel Opens Polls for First General Election Since the Gaza Genocide
The outgoing 25th Knesset became the first Israeli legislature since 1988 to complete its full four-year term without early dissolution, surviving despite severe domestic turmoil, mass protests over judicial reforms, and persistent coalition instability.
However, the upcoming vote occurs under international scrutiny and severe domestic polarization. Official data from the Israeli Central Elections Committee shows the number of ballots needed across the country to fill all 120 seats in parliament.
Political analysts note that the campaign reflects deep fractures within Israeli society regarding military strategy, economic priorities, and the future shape of the state’s institutional structure.
Social and Geopolitical Context of the 2026 Elections
The socio-political environment surrounding the current electoral moment is marked by the prolonged attacks on Gaza and wider regional escalations involving Lebanon and Iran.
These conflicts have heavily strained the Israeli economy, accelerated militarization across public life, and deepened existing social divides.
Economic pressures, driven by soaring military expenditures and disruptions across key industrial sectors due to a labor crisis resulting from the movement of Palestinians, the trade blockade, and the brain drain, have intensified Israeli public debate concerning state budgets and resource allocation.
Simultaneously, domestic divisions have intensified around long-standing structural issues, most notably the military conscription exemptions granted to the ultra-Orthodox Haredi population, generating coalition crises and widespread friction between secular citizens and religious factions.
On the diplomatic front, the state faces unprecedented international isolation, underscored by ongoing proceedings at the International Court of Justice and arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, former Israeli Defense Minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Despite mounting global pressure and civil society accountability campaigns, the political establishment continues to rely heavily on strategic diplomatic and military backing from Western allies, maintaining an insular focus on security doctrines as voters head to the polls.
Netanyahu escalates racist incitement with false claims of ballot raids by Muslim Brotherhood
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 27, 2026
——
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intensified his election-day rhetoric, publishing inflammatory claims on social media that supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood were… pic.twitter.com/Oq6hWpSDku
The Electoral System: Proportional Representation and Coalition Dynamics
Israel uses a closed-list nationwide proportional representation system to elect the 120 members of the Knesset. The entire country forms a single electoral district.
Voters select a political party slate rather than individual constituency representatives. To gain representation in parliament, a party list must clear an electoral threshold of 3.25 percent of the total valid votes.
Because no political party in Israeli history has ever won an absolute majority of 61 seats on its own, every administration requires a multi-party governing coalition.
Following the Central Elections Committee, official vote tallies determine seat allocations using the d’Hondt method, which allocates parliamentary seats among the various candidate lists based on the votes received.
Parties frequently enter formal surplus vote-sharing agreements before election day to capture remaining unallocated seats.
Once results are certified, the President of Israel holds consultations with elected party leaders before tasking a chosen candidate, typically the head of the largest faction or coalition bloc, with forming a government within a 28-day timeframe.
This framework gives smaller sectoral and single-issue parties significant leverage during post-election negotiations. Far-right, religious, and nationalist slates often demand key ministerial posts, policy concessions, or budget allocations in exchange for their critical coalition votes.
Political analysts note that institutional features of the system, combined with state policies, impact electoral participation among Palestinian citizens of Israel. Electoral threshold adjustments and legal challenges against Arab-led party slates continuously shape voter turnout in Palestinian municipalities.
While Palestinian citizens account for roughly 20 percent of the population, their representative parties face ongoing systemic exclusion from executive coalition agreements, restricting their influence within the parliamentary framework.
As Arab voter turnout rises, Israel’s far-right leaders are sounding the alarm. War criminal Netanyahu accused “supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood” of raiding polling stations and “stealing the elections,” saying Israel is “in a war for the home.”
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 27, 2026
Finance Minister Bezalel… pic.twitter.com/vrXawm1VF2
Key Candidates and Political Factions
The candidate field for the 26th Knesset reflects a fragmented political landscape divided into distinct ideological camps, which we will detail:
The Right-Wing and Religious Coalition
• Likud: Led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the ruling party centers its platform on national defense, state security, and maintaining its long-standing parliamentary dominance.
• Otzma Yehudit: Headed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, this far-right faction advocates for expanded settlements, strict law-and-order policies, and hardline security measures.
• Religious Zionist Party–Zehut: Led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich alongside Moshe Feiglin, this nationalist alliance focuses on West Bank administration, land policies, and conservative social programs.
• Ultra-Orthodox Parties: Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), led by Yitzhak Goldknopf, prioritize state funding for religious institutions and maintaining draft exemptions for Haredi seminary students.
The Opposition Alliances
• Together (Beyachad): A political alliance formed by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. The joint platform focuses on institutional stability, economic reform, and governance changes.
• Yashar: A new political movement launched by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. The party presents a technocratic platform focused on national security, military management, and state administration.
• Yisrael Beiteinu: Headed by Avigdor Lieberman, this right-wing secular nationalist party focuses on mandatory military conscription for all demographic groups and civic policy reforms.
• The Democrats: Formed through the merger of the Labor and Meretz parties under the leadership of former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, this unified center-left party emphasizes judicial independence and social-democratic domestic policies.
Arab-Majority Parties
• Joint List: Re-established by Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad under the leadership of Yousef Jabareen, the alliance campaigns on civil rights equality, an end to house demolitions, legal recognition for unrecognized Bedouin villages, and opposition to military occupations.
• United Arab List (Ra’am): Led by Mansour Abbas, this pragmatic Islamist faction focuses on securing municipal development funds, infrastructure investments, and crime-reduction programs for Arab communities.
Netanyahu: Governance Record, Systemic Corruption, and Legal Jeopardy
Benjamin Netanyahu, with more than 15 years, is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Israel. Netanyahu governance has consistently centered on maintaining military administration over occupied Palestinian territories, expanding West Bank settlements, and privatizing state assets.
Netanyahu administrations restructured national tax policies, deregulated key economic sectors, and prioritized defense spending over social welfare initiatives. Netanyahu’s political trajectory remains deeply entwined with ongoing legal proceedings across both domestic and international courts. In domestic tribunals, he faces active criminal charges across three separate indictments known as Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000.
– Case 1000 involves charges of fraud and breach of trust regarding allegations that he received expensive gifts from wealthy business figures in exchange for political favors.
– Case 2000 includes fraud and breach of trust charges related to negotiations with media publishers to secure favorable press coverage in return for legislation restricting competing news outlets.
– Case 4000 contains the most severe charges, bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, alleging that Netanyahu granted regulatory concessions to telecom giant Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage on the Walla news platform.
Netanyahu consistently denies all allegations, maintaining that the investigations represent a politically motivated campaign by law enforcement authorities. In early 2023, his government introduced a major judicial reform initiative designed to restructure judicial appointments and limit Supreme Court oversight over executive decisions.
Opposition figures and legal experts argued that these proposals aimed to undermine judicial independence and stall his ongoing trial, prompting widespread domestic protests and deep institutional instability.
On the international stage, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, determining that reasonable grounds exist to hold him criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The court cited specific charges, including the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare and intentional attacks directed against civilian populations.
Although the Israeli government rejects the jurisdiction of the tribunal, the warrants impose severe diplomatic constraints and travel limitations on Netanyahu across states parties to the Rome Statute.
Voter turnout in Israeli elections as of 16:00 GMT surpassed all votes cast in the 2022, as per data released by the Central Elections Committee.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 27, 2026
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/M2TC79fNBS pic.twitter.com/LP4ByVJF30
Post-Election Scenarios and Potential Outcomes
The final distribution of seats in the 120-member Knesset will determine whether the incumbent coalition or opposition alliances secure the 61-seat majority required to govern.
If the right-wing and religious coalition retains power under Netanyahu’s leadership, the administration is expected to immediately revive paused judicial reform packages to restructure judicial selection processes and restrict legal oversight of executive actions.
Under this outcome, state policy would focus on expanding West Bank settlement infrastructure, maintaining long-term military control over Gaza, and preserving military conscription exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox population to maintain internal coalition stability.
Alternatively, if an opposition alliance formed by figures such as Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, or Yair Lapid captures a parliamentary majority, executive authority would shift toward institutional stabilization. An opposition-led government would likely halt proposed judicial overhauls, reinstate traditional oversight mechanisms, and launch official state inquiries into military and intelligence failures.
Regarding military service, an opposition government would attempt to implement universal conscription policies that include Haredi citizens, a move likely to provoke significant resistance from religious sectors.
Striped of executive protections, Netanyahu’s domestic criminal trials would proceed without executive delays, while international legal pressures stemming from International Criminal Court warrants would remain active.
In the event that neither political bloc achieves a clear 61-seat threshold, the Knesset would enter a state of severe parliamentary deadlock. Under Israeli electoral law, Netanyahu would remain in power as caretaker Prime Minister while political factions negotiate prospective coalition agreements or initiate procedures for new legislative elections, extending the prevailing political uncertainty.
#Israel | Trump endorses Netanyahu ahead of Tuesday's elections, linking his reelection to continued military action against Iran as the Israeli leader fights to retain his parliamentary majority.#DonaldTrump #Netanyahu #IsraeliElections #teleSUREnglish pic.twitter.com/aVhUPyvaKs
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 27, 2026
Sources: TeleSUR – Al Jazeera – Al Mayadeen – Press Tv – Anadolu Agency – TRT World – RT – The Times of Israel – Reporteros Sin Fronteras – BBC – DW – EFE – AP News – AFP
Bereaved families tell voters to remember the victims while others have flown thousands of miles to cast their ballots
Election day in Israel began with a protest by some of the voters with most at stake. Bereaved families of those killed in the 7 October attacks held a minute of silence at 6.29am, the moment when Hamas launched its onslaught just over three years ago.
They gathered in a Tel Aviv plaza that has become known as “hostages square” because it was the centre of demonstrations demanding the return of more than 200 captives from Gaza. Holding pictures of their loved ones, they stood in silence then called on voters to remember the losses and betrayals of that day when deciding on the next government.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
Login