Looking ahead to the Israeli election

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Ciara Kelly (0:28)

That's fieldmaps.ie The Inside Track on Newstalk Tomorrow Israelis are going to go to the polls for the first time in four years in what is widely anticipated to be one of the most consequential elections in its history. Gadi Eisenkot is the former head of the IDF. He's currently slightly ahead of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the polls. He's riding a wave of anger after the October 7th attacks.

It looks unlikely that either side will be able to form a clear majority. Well joining me now to tell us more is Ruth Eglash. She's a senior correspondent with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Ruth you're very welcome to the programme here. So it is the last day of campaigning. What have Netanyahu and Eisenkot decided to do on this final day before these pivotal elections and what is the message that they are trying to get out to their voters?

Ruth Eglash (1:28)

So everyone here is campaigning to the last minute. This is a very very close elections if the polls are to be believed. And so everyone is out campaigning. Last night all the main parties, Eisenkot and also Netanyahu were in the public. Eisenkot had a big rally in Tel-Aviv.

Netanyahu went on the pro-Netanyahu channel here and to one of the most popular TV shows and he talked about what this election is about for him and he talked about security, he talked about Israel's existence and the threats from outside of Israel. Whereas Eisenkot and most of the other parties in the opposition have been talking or are talking about the domestic threats, the internal struggles inside Israel that have been here since October 7th, 2023 and before.

Ciara Kelly (2:26)

And there has been reporting today of tensions between Netanyahu and the IDF over plans by Netanyahu to perhaps get involved in further military action just before those polls opened and a resistance coming from the head of the IDF to that. What can you tell us?

Ruth Eglash (2:45)

Yeah, there is, I mean, there has been a fear all along throughout this election cycle over the last three months that Netanyahu, if he feels that he's going to lose, that he's not going to get enough votes, that he might initiate some kind of military action, particularly against Iran, who would then obviously respond and maybe end up, you know, saying that we can't have elections here. That has been a fear throughout the last three months. And yesterday, the main Israeli news channel, Channel 12, reported that there was some kind of request from Netanyahu to push the army to carry out military action. And it was allowed to be reported. The military censor lifted the ban on reporting it, that saying that the military chief pushed back against Netanyahu, refused to carry out those orders at this time.

And so here we are on the eve of the election, waiting to see if we will actually make it to the polls here.

Ciara Kelly (3:49)

And is that the sense, do you think, that if this action is pushed through, that it is deliberate attempt to try and postpone this vote?

Ruth Eglash (3:58)

Either postpone it or maybe just emphasize the security risks around Israel to show the public that Netanyahu is Mr. Security, which is really the image that he tries to project throughout his time in the leadership.

Ciara Kelly (4:19)

I saw part of Eisenkot's sort of final campaigning today was focused on those last-minute voters who maybe haven't made their mind up, persuading them to get out, to show their support, to cast their vote. How engaged are the public in this election, Ruth? And what is turnout expected to be tomorrow, given how consequential this election is?

Ruth Eglash (4:41)

So, I've covered pretty much every election here since around 2003

And I would say that this feels like a very consequential election, that people, not only people who are here plan to go and vote, but thousands of Israelis who live abroad have flown in, just so they can cast their vote. You can only vote in person here. So people have come especially, even I spoke to someone the other day who came just for 24 hours from Chicago to Israel. It's like a 14-hour flight to vote in the election because they felt it was so important. So I think, I mean, usually voter turnout is pretty high for Israel's elections, higher than in many other places. But I think this time we might see it even higher.