(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts.
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article → curate → experts
Israelis will go to the polls on October 27 in the first general election since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
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Israelis → go → attack
The election will determine not only the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also the country’s direction amid deep internal divisions, regional security challenges and international isolation.
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election → determine → divisions
Mr. Netanyahu’s central campaign promise is that only his government can guarantee Israel’s security.
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government → guarantee → security
His opponents, led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief, question his failure to prevent the October 7 attack.
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opponents → lead → attack
Mr. Eisenkot has also pledged to end the “forever wars” and repair Israel’s relations with global powers.
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Eisenkot → pledge → powers
Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the man who challenges King Bibi?
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who → challenge → Bibi
Israel is known for its fractious politics.
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Israel → know → politics
The Knesset, the country’s 120-member parliament, has never seen a single party win an outright majority of 61 seats, making coalition-building a defining feature of Israeli politics.
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building → see → politics
The country holds elections every four years, provided a parliament completes its term.
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parliament → hold → term
Mr. Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud, which won 32 seats in the 2022 parliamentary elections, has arguably been the dominant political party for years.
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which → win → years
Mr. Netanyahu, the country’s longest serving Prime Minister, has also maintained a tight grip over the party.
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Netanyahu → serve → party
In the 2022 elections, the Likud-led right-religious coalition, including Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Shas and United Torah Judaism won a majority and Mr. Netanyahu formed the government.
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Netanyahu → lead → government
After the Hamas attack, Israel launched a disastrous war in Gaza.
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Israel → launch → Gaza
It is today facing allegations of committing genocide against Palestinians.
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It → face → Palestinians
Israel also widened the war in Gaza into a regional conflict, targeting Iran’s allies before striking Tehran itself, first in June 2025 and again in February 2026.
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Israel → widen → February
Despite the succession of wars, many of Israel’s security challenges remain unresolved.
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many → remain → challenges
Hamas remains in the parts of Gaza where Palestinians have been pushed to.
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Palestinians → remain → Gaza
Hezbollah was forced to retreat from southern Lebanon, but the Shia group remains a powerful socio-political militant outfit in Lebanon.
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group → force → Lebanon
In Syria, the government of Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally, collapsed.
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government → collapse → Assad
But the man who replaced Mr. Assad was Ahmad al Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who is today a close ally of Turkey, another regional Israeli rival.
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who → replace → Turkey
The war against Iran has reached nowhere, with the Islamic Republic not only surviving the initial strikes but also retaliating with attacks on Israel and U.S. bases across the Persian Gulf.
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Republic → reach → Gulf
To understand the security challenges Israel is facing despite its back-to-back wars, watch this episode of Global Faultlines: Is Israel winning?
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Israel → understand → Faultlines
Inside Israel-Palestine, settler politicians, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) have supported new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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politicians → include → territories
Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated in recent years.
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violence → escalate → years
It was against this background Mr. Eisenkot built his campaign on a strong anti-Netanyahu platform.
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Eisenkot → build → platform
His Yashar party has made significant progress over the past year.
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party → make → year
According to most opinion polls, Likud’s tally is expected to fall from last election’s 32 while Yashar could emerge as the single largest party.
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Yashar → accord → party
In Israel, which doesn’t have a Constitution, the President usually invites the leader of the largest party to form the government.
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President → have → government
That leader typically gets 28 days to hold talks with other parties and stitch together a coalition with the support of at least 61 Members of the Knesset (MKs).
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leader → get → Knesset
This year, although Mr. Eisenkot’s party is expected to win most seats, forming a coalition is not going to be easy for him.
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forming → expect → him
Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, despite political differences, is ideologically more coherent than the centrist coalition Mr. Eisenkot wants to build.
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Eisenkot → want → coalition
The United Torah Judaism, which left the coalition government last year, could support Mr. Netanyahu after the elections.
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which → leave → elections
But it’s unclear whether the Likud coalition, even with the support of the UTJ, would pass the 61-seat threshold.
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coalition → ’ → threshold
On the other side, the opposition is filled with heavyweights.
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opposition → fill → heavyweights
Besides Mr. Eisdenkot’s Yashar, the Democrats, led by former deputy military chief Yair Golan; the Yisrael Beiteinu of former Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Together alliance, led by former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, are the key players in the opposition.
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Besides → lead → opposition
Mr. Eisdenkot’s challenge is to bring all of them together–some of them such as Mr. Bennett and Mr. Lieberman, nourish their own prime ministerial ambitions.
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some → bring → ambitions
Opinion polls suggest that even if all these parties come together, they would still fall short of a majority.
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they → suggest → majority
Mr. Eisdenkot may have to take the support – either direct or outside support – of the Arab Raam party.
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Eisdenkot → have → party
As of now, he has maintained that he would not join hands with the Arab parties.
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he → maintain → parties
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
