Israelis are voting in a closely contested election in which Benjamin Netanyahu’s record as a security-focused leader is being tested against Gadi Eisenkot’s promise to restore public trust. Even a narrow victory for either side may not resolve the political uncertainty, with neither bloc expected to secure a parliamentary majority on its own.

Netanyahu’s Likud has centred its case on Israel’s military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, as well as his relationship with US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu has portrayed himself as the leader best equipped to confront regional threats, while Trump urged voters to remember that he had been an “outstanding warrior prime minister.”¹

His opponents see the same record differently. Eisenkot, a former military chief who leads the Yashar party, has made the security failures surrounding the October 7 attacks a central argument for replacing Netanyahu. The opposition bloc also calls for an independent inquiry, stronger safeguards for the judiciary and efforts to rebuild confidence in public institutions. Reporting on the campaign describes the contest as shaped both by security and by concerns about democracy under Netanyahu’s government.²

The contrast is not absolute. Eisenkot broadly shares Netanyahu’s hard line on Hamas and has said Hamas rule in Gaza should end, if needed through military action. But he couples that position with a proposed inquiry into October 7, broader national service and constitutional protections—measures his camp presents as institutional repair rather than simply a change in strategy.²

Coalition arithmetic may prove as consequential as the vote itself. Netanyahu’s prospective partners include ultra-Orthodox and religious-right parties, though disagreements over military conscription have strained those relationships. Eisenkot’s wider anti-Netanyahu camp includes figures with differing views on security and diplomacy, united chiefly by the aim of changing government.³

Polls place the rivals in a near tie, but the 61 seats needed in the 120-member Knesset remain out of reach for either projected bloc. That leaves Israel facing negotiations, possible cross-bloc concessions and, if no arrangement emerges, another period of deadlock.¹