JERUSALEM — A day before citizens head to the polls in what is widely regarded as a watershed moment for the nation, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, released intense, final video messages on Monday to rally voters, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat, Oct 26

Addressing Russian-speaking Israelis directly, Netanyahu honoured the community's contributions across high-tech, industry and academia, highlighted his appointment of Major General Roman Gofman as director of the Mossad, and promised to eliminate the Iranian threat alongside US President Donald Trump, ANI reported. Eisenkot, for his part, warned voters against election-sabotaging disinformation, assured legal action and urged voter vigilance ahead of the polls, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat, Oct 26

The last surveys allowed under Israeli election law were published on Friday and disagreed on who is ahead. Polling for i24NEWS gave the Netanyahu camp 59 seats, two short of a majority, while the public broadcaster Kan put his bloc at 50 and Eisenkot's at 52. Both the i24NEWS and Kan surveys gave the Arab lists a combined 14 seats, yet nearly all of the Jewish opposition parties have so far ruled out working with them, the BBC reported, in the polling summary carried by QNC News. Israelis vote for party lists, and only lists clearing a 3.25 percent threshold win seats; 37 lists registered this cycle, CNN reported.

Source: QNC News citing CNN and BBC, Oct 26

A reckoning over October 7

For many voters the election is a long-postponed reckoning for the worst security failure in generations. In Be'eri, where one in ten residents were among the 1,200 people killed in Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack and dozens were among the 251 taken hostage to Gaza, resident Gal Cohen, 61, told Reuters that Netanyahu should have taken responsibility and stepped down, and that Tuesday's election is critical for Israel. Netanyahu has rejected blame for the breach and resisted calls for an independent investigation, maintaining that Israel's wars against Hamas in Gaza and its allies in Lebanon and Iran will result in a more peaceful Middle East, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

Opinion polls have for months predicted a sharp drop for Netanyahu's Likud party, but a rival alliance of parties on the right, left and centre looking to unseat him also has no clear path to power, suggesting months of political stalemate with Netanyahu potentially at the helm of a caretaker government, Reuters reported. Netanyahu, in power for much of the time since 2009 and on trial in Israel on corruption charges which he denies, has said he wants to form a 'broad national' government after the election if he wins, Reuters' candidate factbox noted.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

Daily costs are also weighing on voters: in the Channel 12 poll, 21 percent of respondents said living costs and the wider economy mattered most, ahead of ultra-Orthodox conscription at 17 percent and the October 7 failures at 14 percent. The BBC said roughly half a million people will be voting for the first time, and some 70,000 Israelis living abroad were reportedly flying home to vote in person, QNC News reported.

Source: QNC News citing Channel 12 and BBC, Oct 26