Israelis Vote in Election That Could Unseat Netanyahu; Analysts Expect Limited Policy Change

Israelis vote Tuesday, October 27, in a national election that could decide whether Benjamin Netanyahu remains prime minister. Netanyahu has been indicted on corruption charges in Israel and, according to one account, on war crimes charges in The Hague. His main challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, who opposes Palestinian statehood and has pledged to destroy the military wing of Hamas. Netanyahu's standing has weakened since the October 7 attack, with critics citing his handling of the war, his reliance on the religious far right and his resistance to an independent state commission of inquiry into the security failures. Elisa Ewers, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, said any new government would likely be constrained from making wholesale changes on Palestinian issues and would inherit hard choices on Iran, including how to respond to Tehran's preparations for renewed fighting. The vote follows a Sunday on which a student-run movement's candidates routed Serbia's Aleksandar Vučić and Brazilians defeated a campaign by Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Left-leaning outlets treat the vote as pivotal but from different angles. The Guardian US, in a Stateside podcast episode, places Israel among four elections in 10 days. It features senior international correspondent Julian Borger on voters rejecting authoritarianism and calls the US midterms the biggest test for global democracy. The Nation focuses on Palestine, asking whether defeating Netanyahu would change policy or only the people managing it. It traces a pattern of opposition rallying around former generals, from Rabin and Barak to Sharon and Gantz. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. Semafor, the alternative source, offers a distinct US-policy angle built around Ewers and Eisenkot's stated positions.