A look at the main issues in Israeli elections seen as a referendum on Netanyahu

Israelis will vote Tuesday in the first national elections since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in what is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s leadership. The deadliest day in Israel’s history features prominently in the campaign, but not in the way many outsiders might expect.

There’s been almost no debate over Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza — which led to an international arrest warrant against Netanyahu — its occupation of much of southern Lebanon and parts of Syria, or its two wars launched against Iran, all of which have broad support. Instead, candidates have focused on Netanyahu’s leadership and moral character; his role in the security breakdown on Oct. 7; his efforts to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and a 2023 judicial overhaul seen by critics as an assault on Israel’s democratic institutions.

Both of the main electoral blocs are dominated by parties that support Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, and no major candidate is advocating a return to the long-moribund peace process. 7 and its aftermath People heading to the polls will pass the faces of fallen soldiers peering from stickers on train station walls and faded yellow ribbons honoring the hostages, the last of whom were returned in a ceasefire deal last year. Around 68% of Jewish Israelis say their attitudes toward Oct.

7 are a central factor in deciding which party to support, according to the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. Among the Arab minority, just 32% said it factored prominently, with most citing crime as the main issue. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has sought to shift blame for the failures surrounding Oct.

7 to security officials while touting Israel’s military achievements against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and their patron, Iran. Critics accuse him of evading responsibility by blocking an official inquiry into the attack, of not reaching a deal to bring back the hostages sooner, and of failing to win a decisive victory against any of Israel’s foes. Anger over exemptions from military service Netanyahu’s governing coalitions have long relied on ultra-Orthodox parties that demand exemptions from military conscription for young men engaged in religious studies.