A nation divided: What do Israelis want in October’s elections?

In the past, a typical fault line between Israel’s right and liberal wings during the election season was future dealings with the Palestinians. Today, there is near-universal animosity towards the Palestinians and the prospect of a two-state solution. Israel’s Jewish voters in this legislative election will likely be confronted with fundamental questions about the nature of Israeli democracy, the legitimacy of governing coalitions, and very different visions of what the state represents. Palestinian citizens of Israel, at least those who are allowed to vote, are left to hope for a coalition that might curb some of the violence and lawlessness that continues to plague their neighborhoods. Social-political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal believes some of the main concerns for Jewish Israeli voters this election will be the far-right coalition government’s attempts to bypass democratic norms and to halt the de facto exemption of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox minority from conscription. "One of the most important tasks will be to overturn the nomination of loyal people to many jobs that Netanyahu [has overseen … which] destroyed the civil service and security forces, including the army, Shabak [the Shin Bet], and Mossad," Bar-Tal told Al Jazeera. Overshadowing all is October 7, 2023, when 1,139 people were killed in Hamas-led raids and an Israeli military counteroffensive. Amplified through endless recycling on the country’s television news networks, October 7 continues to dominate the Israeli popular consciousness, while the 73,387 Palestinians in Gaza killed since then are mostly ignored. Questions over how Israelis and Palestinians might live together, or even the potential of an independent Palestinian state, as agreed to in the 1990s Oslo Accords, have been completely sidelined. Instead, Israelis are calling for an inquiry into how that attack was allowed to happen and, specifically, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the security breach.