This is what the elections are about

Amichai Attali details the central issues at stake in the 2026 elections: Netanyahu's responsibility for the October 7 failure versus determination against the enemy, the strengthening of the Bedouin diaspora and the establishment of armed battalions, ultra-Orthodox enlistment and mass draft-dodging, lack of governance in the Negev and Galilee, appointment of Supreme Court justices and the Attorney General, and the social rift between the Netanyahu bloc and the Eisenkot bloc.

Amichai Attali details in an opinion column the central issues at stake in the 2026 elections. First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's responsibility for the October 7 failure, alongside the question of who will be more determined against the enemy in the next round. Second, the security threat from the Bedouin diaspora: the Shin Bet chief identified attempts to establish armed battalions near Be'er Sheva and Dimona, with an arsenal including RPGs and machine guns. Third, ultra-Orthodox enlistment and mass draft-dodging during wartime, while funding yeshiva budgets and welfare. Fourth, lack of governance in the Negev, Galilee, Bnei Brak, and Modi'in, including the takeover of a police station by the Jerusalem faction. Fifth, the appointment of ten Supreme Court justices and an Attorney General in the next term. Attali describes a dilemma between the Netanyahu bloc, which offers violent orderliness in the Judicial Selection Committee, and the Eisenkot bloc, which perpetuates the power of the legal system. He notes that most of the public is moving rightward, but there is no clear political solution.

This is what the elections are about