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2026 Israeli election

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (R) are pictured either side of an image of the burning Altalena ship. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90, Hans Pinn/GPO, Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)
Deborah Danan
Analysis
Deborah Danan
How the sunken 1948 Altalena arms ship became an election battleground in Israel in 2026
Always a symbol of the battle between left and right, the re-discovery of the wreck has been seized on by nationalist parties seeking to appropriate the mantle of victimhood
Dual Israeli-US citizen Ilana Mittman did not know that she was stripped of her right to vote, at an Israeli consulate abroad in 1986. (Courtesy of Mittman via JTA)
‘My blood is boiling’: Israeli expats gear up to sue for voting rights in Oct. 27 election 
By Natasha Mozgovaya
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen in the Knesset on July 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Ben Gvir refuses Netanyahu’s demand to merge with Smotrich; Likud: He’s crowning Eisenkot
By ToI Staff
Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot visits Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, as part of his election campaign, August 5, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
Shin Bet to allow armed guards for Eisenkot, but won’t provide them itself — report
By ToI Staff
Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg presides over a hearing at the High Court of Justice on petitions against the law freezing arrests, investigations, and enforcement measures against Haredi draft evaders, July 28, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 28, 2026, 10:30 am
Election czar seeks clarification on party leaders’ requests for security protection
CEC chair Sohlberg asks National Security Council to determine who is responsible for assessing inquiries from non-MK party leaders and to set out clear criteria on the matter
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls on Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to unite in a video posted to his Telegram channel, August 27, 2026. (Screenshot/Telegram)
August 27, 2026, 9:59 pm
Netanyahu urges Ben Gvir, Smotrich to unite as poll shows Winter’s new party surging
Times of Israel poll gives Winter 6 seats, pushing Religious Zionism below the threshold; PM warns fractured right could sink the whole bloc, but Ben Gvir accuses him of planning to double-cross them
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the Negev Conference in the southern city of Dimona, southern Israel, July 17, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
August 27, 2026, 4:06 pm
With debutant Winter poised to cannibalize his bloc, Netanyahu has reason to sweat
New People of Israel party seen as most likely to draw votes away from PM’s coalition allies, as well as his own Likud, with rivals and other small right-wing factions already siphoning away support
By Sam Sokol
Head of the Yashar party Gadi Eisenkot at an agriculture-focused election campaign conference of the Yashar party at the Drom HaSharon Regional Council building in central Israel, July 27, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 27, 2026, 4:05 pm
Eisenkot says two-state solution ‘delusional’ post-Oct. 7, but E1 settlement plan a ‘mistake’
Yashar party chief, leading in election polls, blasts Smotrich and Ben Gvir for spiraling settler violence, says IDF has ‘lost control’ in West Bank
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir at an IDF officers’ course graduation, October 30, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90)
August 27, 2026, 2:49 pm
Netanyahu ambushes IDF chief in effort to drag the military into his election campaign
A surprise summons by the PM of the IDF’s top brass for a situation assessment was designed to generate negative headlines against the military, after it warned him that the West Bank is boiling
By Amir Bar Shalom
Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats party, speaks during a party rally at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, July 25, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 26, 2026, 11:27 pm
Democrats chair Yair Golan said to request security detail due to threats on his life
Request reportedly cites posts saying Golan should be hanged, shot, maimed; Eisenkot trades barbs with hawkish newcomer Winter as PM’s glumness on Likud’s chances is backed up by poll
By Sam Sokol
Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas (left) and former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz in a handout photo released by the party on August 26, 2026. (Courtesy)
August 26, 2026, 7:35 pm
Abbas eyes Segalovitz pact amid backlash for saying he’s ‘compelled’ to accept Jewish state
Ra’am chair angers right-wing lawmakers in Facebook post asserting that Arab politicians must accept ‘imposed’ reality of Israel’s Jewish character; Erdan: Abbas wants a caliphate
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
Ofer Winter (left) takes the applause at the launch of his People of Israel party, in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a vote in the Knesset, July 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 26, 2026, 5:33 pm
Netanyahu feels the Winter chill
With two months until the election, the prime minister is facing a potent challenge within his own camp — from an ex-general determined to conscript the ultra-Orthodox and adamant that the political sphere has to change in the wake of the October 7 catastrophe
By David Horovitz
Ofer Winter at the launch of his new People of Israel party in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 26, 2026, 4:43 pm
Ofer Winter’s disciplined political launch threatens to upend the right-wing bloc
The former IDF general’s new People of Israel party unveiled a surprisingly diverse slate on Tuesday, openly challenging Netanyahu and refusing to back down under fire
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Ofer Winter at the launch of his new People of Israel party in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 25, 2026, 11:57 pm
Winter launches nationalist ‘People of Israel’ party; Netanyahu warns it could doom the right
Controversial ex-general says Israelis will no longer accept same political faces after Oct. 7; does not mention PM; unveils diverse slate including Arab-Israeli influencer Yosef Haddad
By Sam Sokol
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel speaks to the media as she announces her resignation as deputy foreign minister at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 25, 2026, 4:28 pm
No slate, no HQ: Sharren Haskel wages an uphill fight to return to the Knesset
The Israel First party is polling far below the electoral threshold, but the former deputy foreign minister at its helm insists she’s not just looking to dock with another ‘Third Bloc’ faction
By Sam Sokol
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks on the phone during a campaign video released to social media on August 23, 2026. (Screenshots via Instagram)
August 25, 2026, 2:49 am
Netanyahu shares phone number in suspected scheme to harvest voters’ data
Premier’s aide says number has been disabled due to high volume of calls, as skeptics note that the phone in question displayed a group chat appearing to back PM’s rival Bennett
By Deborah Danan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu votes in Jerusalem in the Likud primary election on August 17, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 25, 2026, 12:52 am
Lagging in polls, Netanyahu warns small right-wing parties could hand election to ‘fascist’ left
Fuming that a rash of new parties led by disaffected nationalists will waste vital votes, PM, whose coalition seeks oversight of media, claims opposition would restrict free speech, shutter his supportive Channel 14
By Sam Sokol
Moti Leitner, chairman of The Charedi Public, and Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, head of the party's rabbinic committee, attend the kick-off of the new ultra-Orthodox faction's Knesset campaign in Beit Shemesh, August 23, 2026. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
August 24, 2026, 7:26 pm
Launching campaign, new Haredi party slams ‘detachment, stupidity’ of existing factions
The Charedi Public calls for secular education, workforce participation and the enlistment of everybody who is not learning full-time in yeshiva
By Sam Sokol
Otzma Yehudit party chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at a conference in Petah Tikva, central Israel, August 16, 2026. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
August 24, 2026, 12:14 pm
Election czar okays Ben Gvir address at police event after promise not to campaign
Sohlberg says far-right minister ‘committed, including with an affidavit, not to deliver a campaign speech’ after petition looked to prevent him from speaking at all
By ToI Staff
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