Gadi Eisenkot faces off against 19-year prime minister in tight Israeli race

Seventy thousand deaths in Gaza have become the backdrop to a tight Israeli election, where the question is not left versus right, but whether Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power. The prime minister, who first took office three decades ago, has held the post for all but one of the past 30 years. The election has become a two-man race between Netanyahu and his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot. The former IDF chief of staff and newcomer to politics has built his campaign around a promise of

. His appeal lies in his plain style, as voters want someone who will do the doing part, not just talk about it.

The opposition bloc includes former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, but the fight is ultimately framed around Netanyahu. His allies promote an account in which army and intelligence chiefs kept him in the dark, an unfounded claim that has helped him stay in power. His durability rests on a loyal base built over three decades, which has not been shaken even by reports that he received credible warnings of an attack and failed to act.

Netanyahu's legacy includes the deadliest attack in Israel's history, the 7 October 2023 massacres at the Nova festival and southern kibbutzim. His war in Gaza killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, of whom Israel says a third were Hamas combatants, yet did not eradicate Hamas, and Israel's international standing has suffered. Iran's nuclear threat was not destroyed as promised. He also faces the fallout from his attempt to curb the supreme court, the Qatargate affair involving his closest aides, and an ongoing corruption trial.

Opposition hopes rest partly on energy abroad. Many liberal, secular expatriate Israelis are flying home to vote, a group pollsters do not capture and one that could matter if the result turns on a single one of the Knesset's 120 seats. For some Israelis, the full flights home suggest the age of Netanyahu may be nearing its end.