‘This is tense. It really feels like lives are at stake in this election’

Behind Shai, volunteers are plastering stickers of Eisenkot’s face on cars of sympathetic drivers who stop at the red light in front of the base.

Despite volunteering at voting stations on election days in the past, Shai admits he had often not voted himself. This time around, though, he voted just minutes after his local station opened at 7am and for weeks has been telling everyone he knows to do the same.

“We cannot give up the country to the religious far-right. I am religious myself, I am a rabbi even, but I believe what Israel allows the strictly Orthodox to do is not sustainable,” he said.

“I see the argument of why they believe studying the Torah is important, the importance of religion and the importance of continuing Jewish philosophy and traditions. At the same time, after October 7, it has changed the debate surrounding this issue. Now they must serve in the army and protect the country if they want to continue to receive money from the government.”

Shai, an Israeli voter, in Tel Aviv on the day of the Israeli elections, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

Another Eisenkot supporter rides past the station on a tricycle decorated with two giant Israeli flags, Yashar stickers, and with his two young children sitting in a rear basket adorned in party paraphernalia.

He said: “We have all been working very hard for today. Today feels like holding a deep breath. We can’t do no more. We’ve done all we can, now we just have to wait and see what happens.”

He argued that even a supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu – who is Israel’s longest serving prime minister and is now campaigning for his seventh term – would admit that the PM had damaged Israel reputation.

“In Paris, you know, in London too, I saw pictures of Netanyahu [on banners depicted like] the devil. They associate him with the devil.

“Even if you believe, like I do, the war in Gaza was justified, it’s good PR for Israel to remind the world it is a democracy, that we choose our leaders, and we can vote someone [in who is] to the left of Netanyahu.”

In replacing Netanyahu, he said, relations between Israel and the Jewish diaspora could also be improved.

Idon, an Israeli voter, in Tel Aviv on the day of the Israeli elections, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

Tel Aviv’s liberal-leaning voting preference is evident everywhere, with Eisenkot posters, and some of Naftali Bennet, littering surfaces throughout the city.

A convoy of three cars pass, each with four Israeli flags fluttering out of windows. The words “Bibi out, Gadi in” and “Am Yisrael Chai” blare from one car megaphone. Men hanging out the cars’ windows echo the chant, encouraging pedestrians to join in.

To Idon, who is relaxing in the shade of a tree in Dizengoff Square, this election feels like “the two sides of the country going head-to-head”.
Idon’s own family is divided, with around half voting for Netanyahu and the other half voting for change.

“I guess the split in my family is just like the one in the country right now,” he laughed. “But like I think, despite the divide, my family still loves each other, and I think the people of Israel love each other too.”

A man rides his motorcycle past election campaign posters for Benjamin Netanyahu (Credit: Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images

He said he hoped Israel in ten years would be a place of peace and belonging for all citizens, and a model for other nations in the region to look up to.

“I think first, to get there, the strictly Orthodox should take more responsibility, and be more part of the ecosystem, both with regard to the draft, and to joining the workforce,” he said.

“Some people take it as like the last chance for the country. After October 7, everybody wanted change, but I think initially people thought that there would be elections right away, but it took a while, and basically, it feels like nothing has changed after the attacks.”

An Israeli voter in Tel Aviv on the day of the Israeli elections, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

One woman, speaking as she left the voting station, let out a deep breath after she was asked how it feels to have voted.

She said: “The fate of the world, my world, is in balance today.

“It’s surreal… to finally be at election day. I couldn’t sleep last night, worried that I might somehow sleep in all day and not get to vote. Now I have done my duty.”

Another woman, walking through Tel Aviv accompanying her neighbour who was on her way to vote, said: “We have to vote today, it’s our obligation. It’s a very big election today, and it’s unusual because of October 7 and what happened on that day.

“We Israelis have suffered a lot in the last three years. I have two boys in the army. They are fighters in the army. So, it’s very important to us to express our opinion, and the time to do that is today.”

Looking to the future, she hopes Israel will be “a little bit safer”.

“I live in the north of Israel, in Kiryat Shmona. I lived outside my home for two years, and we just came back a year ago back home. We hope the future will be better than now. But it’s still a very good country. We love it, and we love being here.”

One vehicle that is part of a pro Gadi Eisenkot car convoy campaign on election day, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

A woman walking her dog, wearing a shirt for Yair Golan’s centre-left Democrats party, said the election was “critical for the whole story of Israel”.

What Israel will look like in the future “depends on what happens today no doubt. If the correct side will win, it’s like the new era,” she said.

“But if not, I’m worried of both what might happen to Israel and what might Israel become.”

An Israeli voter in Tel Aviv on the day of the Israeli elections, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

David, who with his two young daughters were handing out pieces of paper to strangers with the words “please vote” written in Hebrew, said: “Everyone I know [is voting], and also the kids came to take people out to vote.” He hoped that in time, Israel will be “like it used to be”.

David, an Israeli voter, in Tel Aviv on the day of the Israeli elections, October 27, 2026[Missing Credit]

“A place that wants peace with its neighbours, a place that is thriving, high-tech, a place where everyone looks up to, not the place it has become in the past few years.”

He says the biggest threat facing Israel was internal rather than external. “We need to be in peace between us, then everything will be okay outside.”