- Published
After three years of regional war, this is a battle Israel always knew was coming.
asserted
Israel → publish → war
The general election on Tuesday hangs over a country that's deeply divided and ready for a fight.
asserted
that → hang → fight
Polls published on Friday put the governing coalition and the main opposition bloc almost neck-and-neck, with half a million first-time voters due to cast their ballot and some 70,000 Israelis reportedly flying in from abroad specifically to vote.
uncertain
Polls → publish → ballot
On Saturday night, vast crowds of opposition voters gathered in central Tel Aviv to demand a change of government.
asserted
crowds → gather → government
"We're optimistic," 21-year-old Omri told me.
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Omri → tell → me
"I want peace, I want security, and I want to end corruption and get the religious fanatics out."
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I → want → fanatics
This campaign has been energized by new tactics - including AI videos designed to grab the headlines - and also by a new face.
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campaign → energize → face
Gadi Eisenkot is, perhaps, not the man you might expect to take on the flashy, aggressive, media-savvy brand of Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
uncertain
you → expect → minister
He's been dubbed by some as a "non-politician".
asserted
He → dub → politician
But he and his centrist Yashar party have regularly pipped Netanyahu and his Likud party to the top spot in recent polls, the last of which was published on Friday, in line with Israeli election law.
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last → pip → law
Israeli politics is the art of coalition-building, rather than the task of any one party winning power, but with the predicted result too close to call, Eisenkot's rising profile has sharpened a race many Israelis already see as existential for the future of their country.
asserted
Israelis → win → country
I watched him slip past the cameras at a community centre for Ethiopian Jews in the city of Ramle last week, through a gaggle of security personnel and advisors.
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him → watch → personnel
One of those who had come to hear him speak was David, a smartly dressed man in a freshly-pressed shirt and navy jacket, who said he had met Eisenkot before.
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he → come → Eisenkot
"He looks you in the eye, not like a leader looking down at someone," David told me.
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David → look → me
"And he listens.
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he → listen → ?
Eisenkot's appeal is often put down to his personal manner and profile.
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appeal → put → manner
A softly-spoken military man whose son was killed during the Gaza War, he has presented himself as coming "from the periphery", not from Israel's wealthy urban elite.
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he → speak → elite
His Moroccan background became election headlines earlier this month when a pro-Netanyahu speaker used a racist slur to refer to Eisenkot during a TV debate, referring to him as a Moroccan "monkey".
asserted
speaker → become → monkey
"These elections are about many issues," Eisenkot told the crowd gathered at the Ramle community centre.
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Eisenkot → tell → centre
"They are about security, economy, education...but primarily, they are about the identity of the State of Israel, and what kind of Israel we want to see.
asserted
we → want → Israel
This is music to opposition ears, who say Benjamin Netanyahu's government is a threat to Israel's democracy, pointing to his efforts to curb the powers of the judicial system, and his refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attacks on the grounds that the country's Supreme Court would be biased against him.
asserted
Court → say → him
Eisenkot, along with other opposition leaders, has attempted to draw voters away from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party by promising such a state inquiry, which a recent survey suggests is supported by more than 70% of Jewish Israelis.
uncertain
survey → attempt → Israelis
He has also vowed to enforce court rulings on drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into national military service - another measure that is popular with right-wing voters and opposition alike.
asserted
that → vow → voters
Benjamin Netanyahu has hit back with a campaign focused on Israel's security, and a core campaign slogan of "No Surrender".
asserted
Netanyahu → hit → Surrender
He has repeatedly cast his rivals as soft on security, playing on the fears of some right-wing voters that Jewish opposition parties might ally with Israel's Arab parties to secure a majority, and suggesting this could compromise national security.
uncertain
this → cast → security
Around one-fifth of Israel's population is Arab - many of whom describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
asserted
many → describe → Israel
These are the first elections since the 7 October attacks, in which Hamas-led gunmen stormed through Gaza's border fence, killing almost people and taking 251 hostage.
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gunmen → lead → hostage
It was Israel's worst security failure, but three years on its prime minister is again running for re-election as the only man who can keep Israel safe.
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who → run → Israel
"If the army had woken him in time, it wouldn't have happened," Shlomi Bashar told me, one of several die-hard Netanyahu fans drinking in a basement café in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market.
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Bashar → wake → market
"He does bear a certain responsibility, but after the 7 October, he changed the entire Middle East.
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he → bear → East
Netanyahu has been hammering home the message that Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, in the years after the 7 October attacks, have reduced existential threats to the country.
asserted
wars → hammer → country
"We need him to be re-elected so that he can finish this work," said Shlomi.
asserted
Shlomi → need → work
Most of the world loves him and respects him, because he is a strong man and his ideas are correct."
asserted
ideas → love → him
The prime minister has traditionally relied on a stable base of right-wing voters, but is projected to see a thinning of support in this election.
asserted
minister → rely → election
Some voters may be slipping away to opposition parties like Eisenkot's.
uncertain
voters → slip → Eisenkot
Others, including some die-hard Likud voters we spoke to, said the 7 October attacks had pushed them towards parties further on the right.
asserted
attacks → include → right
Lt Col (Res) Eyal Hajbi, head of the regional civil defence unit in the Netanyahu stronghold of Sderot, right on the Gaza border, lost several friends and colleagues in the attacks.
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Hajbi → lose → attacks
He lights candles for them every day in his office, and told me he would be thinking about them when he cast his ballot on Tuesday.
asserted
he → light → Tuesday
Standing on a ridge overlooking the ruins of northern Gaza, he gestured to the wasteland where Israel's army has completely flattened the neighbourhoods of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.
asserted
army → stand → Lahia
"As far as I'm concerned, after 7 October, we should wipe them all out," he said.
asserted
he → concern → them
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
