A head-to-head contest or a close race. Israel heads to the polls

Tel Aviv, from our correspondent. The image of an atomic bomb over Tel Aviv, the Israeli economy needing to switch to cryptocurrencies to cope with international sanctions, the alarm over ‘left-wing anarchists’ who want to sabotage the vote. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks, makes bold claims, and the Israelis listening to him are divided between those who see him as now confused, frightened, tired – even physically – whilst others subject him to the ‘Biden treatment’, scrutinising his gait in search of signs of a mental breakdown – and those who, on the other hand, believe the fog is merely superficial and that Netanyahu speaks as a leader who knows his country, makes plans and rarely gets it wrong politically. The polls do not reward him but do not sink him either; Netanyahu enjoys the prestige that comes from having remained at the centre of the election campaign – the prime minister to be saved or brought down. Everything in these past months of statements has revolved around him: his history, his tenacity, his scandals, his 7 October. He has refused to take part in debates with his opponents, despite remaining the finest orator; he has carried on as if the elections did not trouble him, until, according to exclusive reports by the Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, he turned to the White House to ask for more substantial support. 

And the second message of support arrived yesterday, almost like a telegram that seemed to have been written in Jerusalem. Ravid is in constant contact with Trump and his administration; some call him the White House’s ‘shadow spokesperson’: if he knows, it is because Washington wants news – not always true – and messages to get out, and so someone wanted to let it be known that Bibi had ‘begged’ Trump for more decisive support. Ravid writes that in the United States, Netanyahu’s request was seen as a sign of desperation. Everything should be taken in stride; Bibi’s pre-election fog is no exception.

Him again, always him. With the election just around the corner, everyone is talking about Netanyahu – and only Netanyahu. In an election campaign obsessed with the Prime Minister, it was only natural that his opponents would try to present themselves as his polar opposite. Only one has truly succeeded, and he is the one who, according to the polls, is making the most headway. Gadi Eisenkot makes specific promises and seems to be the man tailor-made to challenge the Prime Minister. Eisenkot lacks charisma; he speaks only when he absolutely must; he is not a people person; he is not a public speaker; he wears jackets that look too baggy, as if they were sewn for someone else. He is incapable of speaking in slogans. He does not come from the elite, unlike the Prime Minister; he is from Eilat, in the south of the country; he is of Mizrahi, or Eastern, origin; and, if he were to become Prime Minister, he would be the first after a succession of Prime Ministers of European descent. He has this exception written into his DNA; he seems designed to step into the role of the Prime Minister’s nemesis; to present himself as a break with the past, he does not need to invent anything: even his son, killed whilst serving as a soldier in Gaza, stands as a heart-wrenching counterpoint to the Prime Minister, who kept his own children away from the army whilst the whole of Israel was enlisting – rank and background mattered not; those were the days when the country moved as a united front. Netanyahu did not follow that united front. That unity did not last forever, and from those divisions emerged Eisenkot, the former Chief of the General Staff, who has channelled all his venom into the name of his party: Yashar! Right, upright, honest – with a final exclamation mark for emphasis, highlighting the Prime Minister’s trials and his inability to admit his mistakes. Yesterday, the former Chief of the General Staff wrote on X: “Netanyahu, my eyes are on you. The man during whose term of office the greatest catastrophe in the country’s history occurred refuses to understand that Israel’s security is not a political toy; the lives of Israeli citizens and soldiers are not to be thrown away. I have full confidence in Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and in the commanders who act with professional responsibility and total commitment to the security of the state.” Eisenkot was referring to rumours that the Prime Minister had attempted to reignite the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran ahead of today’s vote and that the Chief of Staff, Zamir, had challenged him. “The Israeli people will put an end to this government of anarchy and restore accountability, the state and Israel’s security.” Yesterday, rather than reporting on the candidates’ latest statements, the Israeli press focused on the war – on those in favour of launching it immediately, such as the head of the Mossad, and those who favoured waiting.

When Eisenkot held his final rally in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening, he repeated the word ‘responsibility’ several times. He promised that, whatever happens in the country, he will always take responsibility for it and, whilst his supporters danced around him and waved Israeli flags, as well as those of his party and the Golani Brigade – where Eisenkot began his military career – he mocked the Prime Minister who, back in 2014, had appointed him Chief of the General Staff. Eisenkot called Bibi “hysterical” and mocked his remarks about the atomic bomb and the economy being reoriented towards cryptocurrencies. He laughed without ever really laughing, his round, welcoming, impassive face, his eyes always harbouring a hint of satisfaction and surprise deep within. He concluded with the necessary but reckless promise never to form a government of national unity with Netanyahu, who is asking for two years to finish the job against Iran. It is a head-to-head battle; there are those who hope it might end in an embrace.