Israelis vote on Netanyahu and his challenger Eisenkot

27.10.2026 12:00 HotInfo

Israelis are voting on Tuesday in parliamentary elections that could decide the political future of longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His main challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief of staff and leader of the Yesh Atid party. Deutschlandfunk ↗

The elections are the first since the bloody attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The main topics include security, the further course of the war in the Gaza Strip, and the issue of secularization of Israeli society. A poll published on Friday indicated a tight race between Netanyahu and Eisenkot. irozhlas.cz ↗

In the first hours of voting, Israel recorded the highest turnout in the past 45 years. However, reports came from several places that polling stations in Arab-populated areas lacked ballots in Arabic. HVG ↗

Before voting, Eisenkot visited Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities hardest hit by the October 7 attack. Together with former hostage Gadi Moses, he commemorated the consequences of the attack and the subsequent war there. ANSA ↗

Financial markets are watching the possibility of Netanyahu's defeat with cautious optimism. Data from the prediction platform Polymarket showed that nearly 60 percent of forecasters favored Eisenkot as the future Israeli prime minister. The outcome of the election could affect Israeli politics, the approach to the war in Gaza, and the country's relations abroad. Independent ↗

On Record

👤

Benjamin Netanjahu Premiér Izraela

18.10.2026

„Invitiamo alla cautela nel trarre conclusioni dalle notizie odierne, secondo cui alcuni diplomatici europei sarebbero stati aggrediti da israeliani a volto coperto in Giudea e Samaria."

Výzva na opatrnosť pri hodnotení správ o útoku

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