Israelis Vote in Tense Election        10/27 06:29

   Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country wrestles 
with unresolved wars, continues to reel from Hamas' 2023 attack and is deeply 
divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it.

   JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their 
country wrestles with unresolved wars, continues to reel from Hamas' 2023 
attack and is deeply divided over the character of the state and the right 
person to lead it.

   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who voted just after midday, faces an 
array of parties seeking to oust Israel's longest-serving premier from power. 
Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military 
chief Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote, and tens of 
thousands have reportedly arrived from overseas.

   "This is a very moving and fateful moment. My wife and I are truly 
overwhelmed," Netanyahu said. "We know what is at stake, and since I am not 
allowed to say things explicitly, I will say: Vote correctly."

   Inside Israel, the race is largely about security and who should serve to 
defend the country. Outside Israel, it's mainly about the country's reputation 
-- and the security of Jewish people worldwide -- after growing criticism over 
the war in Gaza and Jewish settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

   More than 31% of Israelis voted by noon, the highest voter turnout by midday 
since 1977, according to figures by the Central Elections Committee.

   In Israel's fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won 
an outright parliamentary majority. There is a chance that neither Netanyahu's 
religious and ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties hoping to 
remove him has enough support for a majority. That could set off weeks of 
negotiations before a leader is declared.

   Israel's Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers -- if other parties 
agree to join forces with them.

   "Our vote will change the government," Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist 
Ra'am party, said while voting, adding that he hoped turnout would surpass 70% 
in Arab communities. Arabs in Israel make up about 20% of the population.

   Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for 
taunting Palestinian detainees and saying some Palestinians in Gaza are "not 
even people," warned that "it will be Mansour Abbas' government" if Netanyahu 
and his allies don't win.

   Emotions run high among some voters 

   Some emotions were high. In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the 
border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot.

   The election is Israel's first national vote since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack 
that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts. In Tel Aviv, families of 
some killed on Oct. 7 or former hostages held a moment of silence. "Remember 
all those whose voices are no more," said Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam 
was killed.

   Around 330,000 young Israelis, many facing compulsory military service under 
the shadow of war, are eligible to vote for the first time.

   Eisenkot early Tuesday visited communities attacked on Oct. 7. "If someone 
in the government had a shred of responsibility, they would start the morning 
here" in the communities near Gaza, he said, while Netanyahu had not yet been 
seen in public three hours after polls opened.

   Eisenkot's Yashar party said it filed an urgent complaint over nine 
incidents in which its ballot slips were missing, damaged or turned over inside 
voting booths, and suggested a "systematic and deliberate" sabotage attempt.

   Overall, the acting director-general of the elections committee, Dean Livne, 
said the number of reports about irregularities or issues at polling stations 
was much lower than in previous elections.

   Security, military conscription and integrity are top issues 

   The vote serves not only as a referendum on Netanyahu's leadership but also 
on what kind of country Israel should be -- heavily influenced by religious and 
nationalist forces, or more firmly anchored in liberal and secular values.

   Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its conduct in Gaza and 
the West Bank. Public support among Americans has plummeted, and partners in 
Europe and elsewhere have slapped sanctions on Israel.

   Also hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran. Netanyahu 
ramped up threats ahead of the vote, warning Tehran it would face "a 
devastating blow" if it attacked Israel.

   Netanyahu's supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate statesman 
who they believe has triumphantly guided Israel through multiple wars. They 
think he is protecting Israel's Jewish identity while keeping in check what 
they see as an interventionist judiciary.

   His Israeli detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by an 
ongoing corruption trial, dragged out the war in Gaza and its hostage crisis 
for political reasons. They say he is undermining Israel's independent 
judiciary and weakening its democratic underpinnings. And they accuse him of 
abetting a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid 
enlistment in Israel's compulsory military.

   "The present government is driving the country into the ground," voter 
Angela Bengur said in Jerusalem.

   Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security 
credentials who, along with his likely governing partners, could act as a 
bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone personally touched by the 
conflict -- his son and two nephews were killed in Gaza -- his backers believe 
that he feels deeply the pain that still courses through Israel.

   Parties that likely would support Eisenkot have vowed to improve Israel's 
international standing and work to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while 
bolstering the independence of the judiciary.

   The elections are about "who serves and who evades service -- who takes an 
active part in building this country and who doesn't," said voter Nisso Shitrit 
in Jaffa.