On Oct. 27, 2026, Israelis will head to the polls for the first time in four years, in what many are describing as the most consequential election in the country’s history.
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many → head → history
Some have even suggested that the stakes of this election are “existential.”
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stakes → suggest → election
From intense diplomatic isolation, to major domestic issues, such as ultra-Orthodox military conscription, to an inquiry regarding the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, to highly contentious judicial reforms, Israeli voters have several major things to think about this month.
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voters → regard → things
It’s true – rarely in Israel’s history has an election felt this significant.
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election → ’ → history
Yet beyond these topics, which dominate the headlines, there’s another matter that hangs in the balance this election – one which is not only connected to all of Israel’s most pressing electoral issues, but to the very soul of Jewish peoplehood worldwide – the future of Zionism.
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which → dominate → Zionism
It’s clear that candidates vying to be Israel’s next prime minister understand the importance of Zionism.
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candidates → ’ → Zionism
Virtually all of them have referenced Zionism in distinct ways.
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all → reference → ways
He’s made Zionism a reoccurring theme of his campaign.
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Zionism → make → campaign
After announcing his merger with Yair Lapid in April, where the two political leaders formed the new Together party, he called their decision to unite the “most Zionist and patriotic act we have ever done, for the sake of our country.”
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we → announce → country
Lapid echoed this, saying “We are uniting today to win the elections and to establish a Zionist government, strong and stable.
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We → echo → government
Lapid has even used Zionist language to target his opponents.
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Lapid → use → opponents
In one case, for example, he suggested that should Netanyahu win again, it would actually mean the “end of Zionism.”
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it → suggest → Zionism
Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of Yashar, and the former Israeli military general who’s now leading in most polls, said last June that he planned to establish a “Zionist, unifying and worthy government.”
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he → lead → government
Like Lapid, he’s also used Zionist-related language to criticize his competitors.
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he → use → competitors
Earlier this month, after the Religious Zionism party released a campaign video showing chief legal representatives in the country being forcibly dragged away, Eisenkot said the party’s leader, Bezalel Smotrich is damaging “the reputation,” of all religious Zionists, despite purporting to represent them.
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leader → release → them
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman stated that there can be no place for Haredi or Arab-led parties this election, whom he’s described as “anti-Zionist.”
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he → state → whom
They are anti-Zionist,” he said.
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he → say → ?
Others, too, like Benny Gantz and Yoav Segalovitz, have leaned on Zionism through their electoral campaigns.
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Others → lean → campaigns
In an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, Gantz said on Sept. 26 that he believes Israel “needs a broad Zionist government anchored by moderate forces.”
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Israel → say → forces
“The purpose,” he stated, “…is to create enough political strength across the responsible Zionist centre that extremists are no longer indispensable and no longer possess veto power over Israel’s national direction.
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extremists → state → direction
But invoking Zionism isn’t the same as agreeing on what it means or what direction it should take.
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it → invoke → direction
During a recent conversation with Free Press columnist Coleman Hughes, award-winning author Dara Horn, who has written extensively about antisemitism, stated that “nobody knows what Zionism is.”
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Zionism → win → antisemitism
She’s right.
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She → ’ → ?
The anti-Zionist lynch-mob, who’ve been screaming about Zionism for years, want you to believe that Zionism is genocide, apartheid and supremacism — that it’s the most abhorrent idea in the world.
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it → scream → world
Whatever it is that you loathe, and think is most toxic and destructive in this world — Zionism is that.
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Zionism → loathe → world
All of this, the lies, the libels and the hatred, are part of a deliberate campaign to undermine Jews’ connection to Israel and to silo Jews into two camps: the good Jews who are only comfortable with Israel existing in the pages of books and Bibles, and the bad Jews, who have the audacity to believe in a free and sovereign homeland.
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who → undermine → homeland
Then there’s the political Zionism we’ve learned about in synagogues, Jewish day schools and sleep away camps – the basic idea that Zionism is a belief in the right for Jews to live peacefully in a country of their own.
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Jews → ’ → own
Of course we have that right.
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we → have → right
But that’s only part of the story.
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that → ’ → story
What Zionism actually is, is a living, breathing idea – a moral scaffolding and life force – that forms part of the Jewish soul, and which is imbued in the moral ethos of Israel, its citizens and Jews across the world.
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which → live → world
What transforms Israel from being a state for Jews into a state built upon Jewish values is, to a great extent, Zionism, its prophetic ethics, and its underlying moral virtues.
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transforms → transform → extent
It’s an energy and fortitude that turned freezing and emaciated Jews inside overcrowded cattle cars into fighter pilots, roaring over the skies of Tehran.
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that → ’ → Tehran
It took collective suffering and despair and made it into a forward looking, thriving democracy, characterized by a responsibility to help others.
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It → take → others
Zionism is the aid Israel sent to Columbia in 2026 after it was rocked by a devastating earthquake.
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it → send → earthquake
It’s the irrigation technologies sent to drought-stricken nations in Africa and the vaccination of over a million Palestinian children.
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It → ’ → children
As Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet, has explained, Zionism has been so wondrous, powerful and successful that it’s actually “provided the world with a framework for the future.
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it → explain → future
But Zionism in its purest and most beneficial form isn’t guaranteed, and the outcome of this next election may very well decide the direction it takes.
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it → guarantee → direction
For Israelis, and Jews in the diaspora, this means everything.
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this → mean → everything
With antisemitism surging globally and Israel's moral standing under relentless attack, the answer Israelis give at the polls won’t just shape their next government, but the soul of the Jewish people
For the Jewish state, its next election will determine whether Israel remains true to its founding principles and the Zionist philosophy that led to its creation, or if it will inch towards a Zionism defined by higher walls, forever wars, and pure political survival.
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it → surge → walls
To echo Gershon Baskin, columnist for the Jerusalem Post, “Jewish power without Jewish ethics is self-defeating.”
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power → echo → ethics
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
