Netanyahu's three decades in power

Benjamin Netanyahu first became prime minister thirty years ago and has held the office for more than nineteen of those years, dominating Israeli politics throughout.

The election is about Netanyahu

Tuesday's Israeli election is not fought on left versus right but on Bibi versus anti-Bibi. Almost every political figure defines themselves in relation to Netanyahu.

Eisenkot offers the un-Bibi

Gadi Eisenkot, a former general and chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces who entered politics four years ago, positions himself as Netanyahu's opposite.

Eisenkot's party name says it all

Eisenkot's party is called Yashar, meaning straight or direct, carrying an implied contrast with Netanyahu, regarded as a maestro of the darkest political arts.

Eisenkot calls for integrity

When Eisenkot calls for a country without lies, responsibility and leading by example, and suggests US-style term limits because power corrupts, everyone knows who he means.

“a country without lies”

Netanyahu's rivals come from the right

The anti-Netanyahu bloc includes former PM Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, both nationalist rightists who once worked closely with Netanyahu before falling out spectacularly.

The far right still orbits Netanyahu

Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party calls Netanyahu a shopping trolley that tends to go left and needs pulling right, but still sees him as the sun.

“He has a tendency to go left, so you have to pull him to the right.”

Netanyahu's campaign message

Netanyahu's latest poster campaign offers voters a choice between Yamin, the right, with his face and the Israeli flag, or Falastin, Palestine, with opposition leaders and Arab party heads.

Netanyahu puts opponents on defensive

Netanyahu has succeeded in making the closing campaign weeks about whether the anti-Netanyahu bloc will do a parliamentary deal with mainly Arab parties, putting his opponents on the defensive.

A racial slur backfires

Channel fourteen's Yinon Magal, a Netanyahu loyalist, called Eisenkot a Moroccan monkey, a racial slur so crude it briefly broke Netanyahu's control of the campaign narrative.

The Gaza devastation

Netanyahu's government flattened much of Gaza, killing more than seventy thousand Palestinians, even if Israel says one third were Hamas combatants, yet polls show the two blocs neck and neck.

October seventh on Netanyahu's watch

The massacres on October seventh, twenty twenty-three at the Nova music festival and southern kibbutzim happened under Netanyahu's watch, the biggest disaster in Israel's history.

Netanyahu's unfulfilled promises

Netanyahu promised to destroy and eradicate Hamas, but that did not happen. He promised to destroy Iran's nuclear threat, but that too did not happen.

The judicial coup and scandals

Before October seventh, Netanyahu tried to weaken the supreme court in what critics call a judicial coup, splitting Israel in two. His closest aides face Qatargate accusations of taking money from Doha.

Netanyahu's base stays loyal

Netanyahu's support is unshakeable over three decades, unmoved by reports he received credible warnings of a Hamas attack on October seventh and failed to act.

Expat Israelis flying home to vote

Liberal and secular expat Israelis are flying home to vote on Tuesday, a group not picked up by pollsters who feel it their duty to remove Netanyahu.

Golan's optimism about change

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats and a former general, says he is optimistic and believes opposition leaders can agree on some sort of regional strategic process for long-run security.

“I'm optimistic. I never went into battle thinking 'all right, I'm going to be killed, I'm going to be wounded'. No, I'm going to win, and we are going to win.”

Young Israelis sing for peace

A video went viral showing young Israelis at a Negev music festival dancing and singing Shir LaShalom, the song for peace, the anthem of nineteen nineties peace efforts.

The age of Bibi may be ending

Though polls are deadlocked and Netanyahu is a political magician, queues for planes home and young people singing for peace give some Israelis hope that change might be coming.