00:00Israelis are heading to the polls for what many view as one of the most pivotal elections in the country's
00:06history.
00:07Most polling points to a tight race between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, former military chief Gadi
00:14Eisenkot.
00:15But neither Netanyahu's coalition nor the main opposition bloc is expected to win the 61 seats needed for a majority
00:23in the 120-seat parliament.
00:25For the 76-year-old Netanyahu, who has led the most far-right government in Israel's history, the stakes are
00:32both political and personal.
00:34He is on trial for corruption in three separate cases.
00:37The election is also widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's leadership since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
00:45The IDF's three-year and ongoing assault on Gaza has killed at least 75,000 people and has been deemed
00:53a genocide by a United Nations commission.
00:56Under Netanyahu's watch, there's also been an aggressive surge of deadly extremist settler violence to strengthen Israel's control in the
01:05occupied West Bank.
01:06Settlement expansion has been a key feature of Netanyahu's re-election campaign.
01:11However, it is also a driving force behind Israel's growing international isolation, with many of its traditional allies threatening to
01:20impose sanctions on Israel,
01:21with polls consistently forecasting a razor-thin outcome, complex weeks-long negotiations and even a possible second election may follow.
01:31The Israeli-Arab minority may also end up as kingmakers, with the two Israeli-Arab parties offering to support a
01:38government led by Eisenkot.
01:43The Israeli-Arab clubs 1-3 battalion are held withsis concerning Israel's forehead.
01:44The Israeli-Arab gefallen, the Israeli-Arab政府 for often CONUSSIONS
