Israel election puts Netanyahu's future and security in focus

Israel’s October 27 election will decide which parties enter the Knesset and shape coalition negotiations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, amid debate over security, accountability for the October 7 attacks and the country’s direction. Polling cited in one candidate profile suggests a tight contest between Netanyahu, leader of Likud, and Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar!. Israeli voters choose parties rather than a prime minister directly, and parties then negotiate alliances to form a majority coalition. No party has ever won a majority in the 120-member Knesset. The election has not yet taken place. The response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack is a central campaign issue. Eisenkot has pledged an independent state commission of inquiry into the failures that allowed the attack, which killed more than 1,200 people, according to the reporting. Netanyahu’s government has rejected calls for such an inquiry and proposed a commission whose members would be appointed by politicians. Opposition leader Yair Lapid has criticized that proposal as insufficiently independent. Security policy also figures prominently as...