Netanyahu and party leaders vote as 26th Knesset election gets under way

Update, 27 October, 13:07 Israel time

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has voted in Jerusalem, accompanied by his wife Sara. N12 reported that the couple cast their ballots at a polling station in the capital, with a photograph credited to Haim Tzach of the Government Press Office. The Times of Israel said Netanyahu used the visit to call on Israelis to go and vote.

His appearance came late in the morning. Amit Segal noted on Telegram that this was the prime minister's first public appearance of the day, coming more than 5 hours after polling stations opened. News.co.il observed that Netanyahu had not been seen in public since the previous evening before he arrived to vote. Neither report gave a reason for the timing.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also voted. According to News.co.il, he cast his ballot at a polling station in Ra'anana, a city north of Tel Aviv.

Update, 27 October, 12:07 Israel time

Police Commissioner Danny Levi has cast his ballot, and police say thousands of officers have been deployed nationwide for polling day. N12 reported that Levi, who holds the rank of Rav-Nitzav, voted in the 26th Knesset election, and quoted the police as saying the deployment was meant to keep the vote orderly and safe. The report carried a photograph supplied by the police spokesperson's unit.

The leader of a second ultra-Orthodox list has also voted. Ynet's alert service reported that the chairman of United Torah Judaism voted at a polling station in Bnei Brak, a largely Haredi city east of Tel Aviv. As with its earlier alert from Beit Shemesh, the headline did not name him.

The Times of Israel, in a fuller report on actress Gal Gadot's visit to the polls, said she urged Israelis to turn out, describing the vote as a momentous election.

Some voters marked the day with reminders of the war. Axios correspondent Barak Ravid wrote on X that he took to the ballot box a sheet listing the 2400 names of those Israel had lost over the last 4 years, keeping it in his pocket. He said the election was, in part, about them, their memory and a better future for the country.

The story as first reported

Israel's party leaders and senior officials went to polling stations on Tuesday morning to vote in the election for the 26th Knesset, the country's parliament. The Jerusalem Post published photographs of President Isaac Herzog voting in Jerusalem alongside other leading politicians, while Ynet reported that the leaders were voting together with more than 7 million eligible voters, some of them arriving with grandchildren.

Several leaders used their visit to the ballot box to make a final appeal. According to Ynet, Naftali Bennett called it a fateful day and promised a revolution, while Hendel said that three years of war were coming down to a single day. Other reports tracked a minister voting away from home on the advice of the security services, and a politician voting after being disqualified.

What the party leaders said

Ynet gathered short remarks from a range of figures across the political map. Abbas said his camp would form a "second change government", a reference to the coalition built under Bennett and Yair Lapid, which included an Arab party for the first time. Deri said that all the leading rabbis in Israel were pleading with people to vote. Yair Golan described the morning as one of enormous hope. Winter urged voters to follow their hearts, and Yaakov Asher stressed that his camp was united. Ynet's summary carried the line that the mood was good.

News.co.il reported that Itamar Ben Gvir, chairman of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), a far-right party, arrived at his polling station with his family. Ynet's alert service separately reported that the chairman of a list called "HaTzibur HaHaredi" (The Haredi Public) voted in Beit Shemesh, a city west of Jerusalem with a large ultra-Orthodox population. The alert did not name him in its headline.

Security advice for the defence minister

According to News.co.il, the Shin Bet asked Defence Minister Israel Katz to vote in Moshav Yinon rather than where he lives, citing security considerations. The Shin Bet, formally the Israel Security Agency, is the domestic intelligence and security service responsible among other things for protecting senior officials. A moshav is a cooperative farming village, a common form of rural community in Israel. The report did not explain the nature of the security concern.

A disqualified candidate and holdouts on the right

Political commentator Amit Segal reported on his Telegram channel that Abu Shehadeh came to vote after having been disqualified. According to Segal, Abu Shehadeh predicted that Arab citizens would stream to the polls and that those he called racists would end up in opposition, and said he hoped for a defeat after what he described as several years of war crimes. Segal's post did not specify which body disqualified him or on what grounds.

In a second post, Segal wrote that Maoz and Leitner were voting for themselves after the bloc failed to persuade them to withdraw. In Israeli politics, smaller lists are often pressed to drop out before polling day so that their votes do not go to waste below the electoral threshold and weaken the larger camp they are aligned with. Segal did not name the bloc in question.

A celebrity voice

The Times of Israel reported that actress Gal Gadot said she was voting for change and expressed hope that the day would turn out well for everyone.

How Knesset elections work

Israelis vote for national party lists rather than individual candidates, and seats are shared out in proportion to each list's vote among those that pass the threshold. No party has ever won a majority alone, so the result is decided as much by post-election coalition talks as by the vote itself. That is why leaders' polling-day remarks, like Abbas's talk of a governing coalition and Asher's emphasis on unity, often speak to alliances as well as to their own voters.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports give turnout figures or any indication of results. The reports do not say where most of the leaders voted, beyond Herzog in Jerusalem, Katz in Moshav Yinon and the Haredi Public chairman in Beit Shemesh. Several figures, including Winter, Leitner, Maoz and Abu Shehadeh, are identified only by surname in the material. The grounds for Abu Shehadeh's disqualification, the specific threat behind the Shin Bet's request to Katz, and the identity of the bloc that sought the withdrawal of Maoz and Leitner are all left unexplained.