Israelis have changed.
asserted
Israelis → change → ?
Will they change their leadership?
asserted
they → change → leadership
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israelis are convinced that elections scheduled for Tuesday are the most pivotal in their nation's history.
asserted
elections → convince → history
Will they vote out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and his coalition of far-right, ultranationalist and religious political parties — because he failed to prevent the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust?
asserted
he → vote → Holocaust
Or will they reelect him to continue his campaign of retaliation, waging wars that aim to reshape the Middle East?
asserted
that → reelect → East
His main challenger, former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, leads a center-right opposition promising more diplomacy and less extremism.
asserted
challenger → lead → diplomacy
Israelis are so concerned about their country's future that tens of thousands of expats are expected to fly back to cast ballots, since Israel does not allow absentee voting.
asserted
Israel → expect → voting
"We almost could have been destroyed on Oct. 7," said Israeli lawyer Shoula Romano-Horing, who flew in from Kansas City, Mo., to vote.
uncertain
who → destroy → City
"This is why I'm voting for Netanyahu, to make Israel so secure and so safe."
asserted
Israel → vote → Netanyahu
In the opposite corner are those Israelis distressed by the global backlash to the wars Netanyahu's government has waged.
asserted
government → distress → wars
"The actions of this government cause Israelis in general and Jews in general to be tagged as, you know, mass killers," said Yochai Ben-Haim, who works in renewable energy in California and is flying home to Israel for 36 hours just to vote.
asserted
who → cause → hours
"This government is led by extremists that do not represent who we are, and we need to change it."
asserted
we → lead → it
In conversations with dozens of Israelis over the last few weeks, a portrait has emerged of who Israelis are today.
asserted
Israelis → emerge → weeks
Many are impervious to the pain of their Palestinian neighbors, but traumatized from the war they have wrought.
asserted
they → work → war
They are resistant to Palestinian independence, but also revolted by the Israeli settlers pushing Palestinians off their land.
asserted
They → revolt → land
They are fed up with the world's rebuke over the Gaza war, but also fearful of their growing global isolation.
asserted
They → feed → isolation
"Israelis want to be feared and to be loved," said Israeli author Micah Goodman.
asserted
Goodman → want → ?
"The problem is that you have two reputations you need to protect, but you can't.
asserted
you → have → reputations
"
What Netanyahu knew
As elections near, Israelis are learning more about what led up to Oct. 7, 2023.
asserted
what → know → Oct.
Throughout that year, as Israelis poured into the streets to protest Netanyahu's far-right government and its plan to weaken the judiciary, Netanyahu's security chiefs warned that regional enemies could take advantage of the turmoil to attack.
uncertain
enemies → pour → turmoil
Behind the scenes, Israel received direct warnings that Hamas was planning something big.
asserted
Hamas → receive → something
Israel and Hamas had been holding secret talks for more than a year, Palestinian mediator Sufian Abu Zaida said.
asserted
Zaida → hold → year
When the talks stalled, Hamas' leader in Gaza had Abu Zaida relay a message threatening an "earthquake."
asserted
Zaida → stall → earthquake
What kind of earthquake was unclear, said Abu Zaida, but he insists he relayed the warning to Israeli intelligence.
uncertain
he → say → intelligence
The leader of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt's intelligence chief relayed similar warnings, according to reporting by NPR and other media outlets.
uncertain
leader → relay → NPR
"All what happened in 7 of October is needless," Abu Zaida said.
asserted
Zaida → happen → October
Nearly 1,200 people were killed when Hamas attacked army bases, residential communities and an outdoor music rave — and 251 people were taken hostage back to Gaza.
asserted
people → kill → Gaza
Netanyahu denies he was warned and has never admitted any kind of responsibility for the security failure.
"
asserted
he → deny → failure
Within days, his PR people were trying to shape the public narrative about events," said Amos Harel, a defense analyst for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and author of 06:29 – Anatomy of a Failure, which details the Israeli failures to prevent the Oct. 7 attack.
asserted
which → try → attack
(The attack began that day at 6:29 a.m.)
asserted
attack → begin → a.m.
Netanyahu's strategy, he said, was "to shift the blame" to the security services and the military.
asserted
he → say → services
For much of the Gaza war, Israeli protesters flooded the streets demanding that Netanyahu strike a deal with Hamas to release Israeli hostages and end the fighting.
asserted
Netanyahu → flood → fighting
It would take two years, Israel's longest ever war, before a hostage deal was reached.
asserted
deal → take → years
Netanyahu said he was seeking the total defeat of Hamas, though former officials who worked with Netanyahu allege he prolonged the war for political reasons — a charge that Netanyahu has denied.
asserted
Netanyahu → say → that
"I'm absolutely convinced that this is what happened," Harel said.
asserted
Harel → happen → ?
"He felt that if this would move on too fast, then there will be more of a significant public demand for a national commission of inquiry."
asserted
this → feel → inquiry
Netanyahu has blocked one in Israel.
asserted
Netanyahu → block → Israel
So Israelis grappling with Oct. 7 go to the spot of the day's deadliest attack, where hundreds of people were killed when Hamas attacked the Nova music festival.
asserted
Hamas → grapple → festival
The memorial there is a dusty field of plaques and thin poles bearing the pictures of smiling young people who were partying when they came under attack.
asserted
they → bear → attack
Kati and Meir Zohar, whose 23-year-old daughter Bar was killed there, helped build the memorial with other families.
asserted
daughter → kill → families
…and 114 more, not listed.
The Aporia
