Israel elections 2026: Netanyahu faces big test as Israel votes

Israel has begun voting in the first general election since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that shook the country and plunged West Asia into turmoil. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been at the center of power for 19 years now, has managed to keep his coalition in power for a full four-year term. And that's a rarity in Israel's politics. And now he faces a formidable challenge in the form of former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and his Yesh Atid party. Now some 7.3 million people are eligible to vote with more than half a million young people due to cast their ballot for the first time. And now tens of thousands of Israelis are estimated to have flown in from abroad to vote in an election seen as crucial to deciding the future character of their country. Now, the polling stations are to remain open until 10 p.m. Thereafter, television networks will publish their first exit polls, offering an initial indication of the results. However, the official count will take longer, particularly if the contest is closed. Now, Netanyahu has campaigned on the issue of security, stating that Israel must remain a dominant military power in the region, and he argues that only he can keep Israel safe. However, many of his critics argue that Netanyahu helped keep Hamas in power before the October 7 attack, and he's also been blamed for security lapses that led to the October 7 tragedy, a claim he has firmly rejected. Netanyahu has also touted his close ties with the United States, especially U.S. President Donald Trump. A few hours before the vote had started, a huge poster depicting Netanyahu next to Trump hung over Tel Aviv now the billboard showed the two leaders standing next to each other but looking at different directions with the warplanes and the Israeli flag in the background a Hebrew writing at the bottom red and I'm quoting here we have one chance to win now a CNN report on Monday has suggested that Netanyahu has been pushing for a joint U.S.-Israel strike on Iran but the Trump administration has asked that any potential action be delayed until Washington is ready. On Iran, Netanyahu has emphasized the threat the Islamic Republic poses to the country, even posting an AI image recently showing a nuclear attack on Israel. He said Israel must finish the job of overthrowing the regime in Tehran. Eisenkot, however, believes economic pressure is currently the best way to defeat on and backstrikes on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program but not a return to an all-out war all right joining me now is our principal correspondent Disha Yadav and she's live in Jerusalem Disha good morning to you i'm pretty sure it's been it's a really happening event for Israel at this hour now and you have been traveling talking to people there um tell us about what is it like there since the voting has just started i see a poster at the back i'm dressed behind you what are people talking about what does it look like well absolutely good morning to you and our viewers here and it's a very busy morning here in israel you can see we are currently right outside a polling station in jerusalem and people are turning up in huge numbers as you can see the queue outside here it's a big day it's an election day and we've also uh hearing that how people have also traveled from abroad all the way up to here just to cast their vote so that is what election means for the voters around here. There are about 12,000 polling stations which have been set up across the country, 18,000 ballot boxes and 1 lakh security personals deployed in and around Israel. So this is a kind of arrangement that the authorities have done here on the ground level. And at this given point in time, this is the mood what it looks like. It's about 7.30 a.m. here. The voting started at about 7 a.m and we can see the posters in and around the booths as well which talks about the current Israel's government and what they really want from the new government you can see the posters clearly around me so I just want to show you the atmosphere here what it is what it looks like on Tuesday morning on an important election day and I also want to really bring this information that it's a national holiday today the markets everything is shut today here uh plus the public transport that has been provided free to the voters so that people can come out in large numbers remember last time the voting percentage was 73 percent and this time around the government is expecting more uh voters to come in and cast their vote so this is what exactly the mood looks like this is what the streets of Jerusalem looks like this is the old city here that we are reporting from and you know this is also the first very big election if you talk about right after October 7 attack so when I was speaking to the citizens here we are here in Jerusalem since the last two days and we are speaking to people from all the age groups specifically the voters who are eligible they do say that safety and security comes in their mind when they will go and cast their vote because this is in the first election which is happening after October 7 attacks so that fear still looms in people's mind they want the new government to keep them safe be it any party that comes into power they want safety and security second uh issue that they really spoke about is a rising cost of living at this given point in time we have seen the October 7 attacks followed by the wars which has really put a lot of pressure and burden on the rise on the living cost as well which they do say when you talk about the basic essentials they do say that they want the new government to bring in some reforms which and which can help them to make things affordable and thirdly and most importantly they do believe that the new government should keep Israeli safe be it any anywhere because they do feel that the safety and security remains the top agenda in fact the few voters that we were speaking out here they also told us that this is the main and top priority agenda for them in their mind and another important point most of the voters here have traveled from countries like London uh they've also traveled from European countries as well because they work there and they have traveled here just to cast their vote. They do say that they want, you know, things to be different this time around. They are not taking sides here, if I can talk about. But they do believe that if any new government comes to power, safety and security is the top agenda for them. You know, I'm glad you talked about security because we saw Netanyahu really pitching in and talking about how, you know, the next job is to finish the job when it comes to Iran. And I believe that is something that is interesting because, of course, he's not taking the blame for, as such, for the Hamas attack. And he's blamed the security there. And then you have Gadi Eisenkot, who is coming there as the opposition. How are people weighing him against him? Because at this point of time, Gadi Eisenkot is somebody who lost his son and, of course, a nephew there in the war. And he's not absolutely saying that I'm going to attack Iran. But when it comes to security, he's also somebody who has backed the idea that we do not want Hamas to act over again. So how are the people weighing Netanyahu and Eisenkot that way? Absolutely. So these two names are on people's mind when we talk about, when we actually ask them about what are they expecting from this election and what they really want, a change when we talk about the issues that really they want to focus as far as a new government is concerned. They do believe that they are not even blaming directly the Israeli government for failing to secure what really happened on October 7. But yes, there is also a very deep and emotional connector that really comes along if you talk about the opposition here, that is Eisenkot. As you rightly said, he lost his son in Gaza and he lost his nephews as well. So while his campaigns, in campaigning as well, all that we can look is that he, Even in his campaigns, he's talking about how he's ready to change the way Israel government really works when it comes to security and safety. And when we talk about Benjamin Netanyahu, in his campaigns in the last few days, he has spoken about how he will directly upgrade all the defense securities. He will also seek answers as to what really happened after October 7th and the wars that followed. He also has promised people about how the reforms will come into picture when it comes to economy, the rising cost of living, affordability. All of this is something which will be fixed if they come into power. So the voters here are not really taking sides here, if I can say it up front. They are not really saying that we will be voting for Netanyahu or we'll be voting for Eisenkot. But they are voting for, all they want is the new government to bring in some sort of change, some reforms to bring around more safety and security for people living here. Because one or two voters I spoke to, they do say that the children who are small now, they have witnessed the war, they have seen what has really happened in front of them, so they still live in fear. So they do not want that to be happening for years and years to come. So here it is a big test for the current government and also for the opposition parties who are really wooing the voters with all sorts of campaigns that are going around. And, you know, not only here, we can see even right across the street as well, many boards and posters that have been put up, some against Netanyahu, some supporting, some supporting the opposition parties. So it's a very neutral and balanced view that we are getting from people in and around here in Israel. And that, of course, is going to be known only at about 10 p.m. But the voting will be over and the first set of votes will be counted. And the initial trends we will get to know tomorrow morning itself. So that is how fast the system will be working here. And the government also says that to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, they will be monitoring each and every voting center, the polling booth as well, so that there is no way of really losing the votes that they are looking for. So on the ground level, we are looking at a much, much significant election, specifically after October 7th. seven attacks. Absolutely, Adisha, of course. And also, because we're talking about security, we heard Netanyahu saying that, you know, there is a possibility of that there will be an interference, that there'll be an attack during the election process. When it comes to the security of the polling stations and everything, have you seen more of that? Like what kind of personnel have been aligned outside polling stations? What does it look like there? We're talking about the security and the safety of the voters who are coming in to vote. Firstly, even media ourselves, we are not really allowed to enter this zone that you see are in and around the 100 meter radius so you know the voters they have to go vote and come back and only across the road we can take their interviews so that is the kind of security we are looking at you can see a security personnel right standing outside a polling station and overall across Israel what we understand one lakh security personals have been deployed this is for the safety of the voters who are coming in from different parts of the country and also from abroad like i said 800 000 is the number of citizens who are Israelis but living abroad they are working or uh you know living there so they are they might be expected to come here and cast their vote and we are roughly looking at the number of thousands so uh to ensure that there is safety full security provided to them and also another point today it's a holiday it's a national holiday over here so all people have to do is just wake up from their homes get to the polling booths and it is free of transport as well public transport has has been made absolutely free here so people can come in huge numbers is what the government is expecting at this point in time all right of course this show will be coming back to you when we see the results coming in as you said 10 p.m is the uh time that as we understand the voting is going to stop. So we'll come back to you and get more details on that. Of course, that was Disha Yadav there in Jerusalem, getting us the ground report and the situation there in Israel. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.