- Israeli elections amid Gaza conflict
- Protests challenge Netanyahu’s policies
- Low voter turnout observed
Tuesday marked the election of mayors and local council members for 197 municipalities and cities, as well as 45 regional council representatives, by the Israeli people.
Voting commenced at 7:00 am and was scheduled to conclude at 10:00 pm in elections that had been postponed twice as a result of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza—from January 31 to Tuesday—following October 31.
Tens of thousands of eligible Israelis who voted from active military bases in Gaza or elsewhere in Israel are among the seven million eligible to vote.
The turnout has been lower than in the previous elections held in 2018, the Ministry of Interior estimated throughout the day.
Protests persist
In 2023, Israelis engaged in widespread demonstrations against proposed judicial reforms by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The months preceding the elections were marked by unrest for the Israeli people.
Various protest movements persisted throughout the duration of the conflict. For instance, relatives of Israelis who were captured on October 7 by Palestinian combatants demanded that the government negotiate for their return; at times, these protests merged with antiwar and antigovernment demonstrations.
Israelis who support the government’s war effort comprise the opposing side; consequently, numerous observers have interpreted the elections as a referendum on Netanyahu’s government as a whole and on its performance during the war.
The campaign for mayor of Jerusalem, in which incumbent Moshe Lion is widely anticipated to defeat challenger Ofer Berkovitch, is among the most closely followed.
Addam, an Israeli-American protester, stated that he, along with other liberals, encounters considerable hostility; therefore, he refrained from revealing his last name out of concern for Israeli authorities and vigilantes, who have repressed antiwar demonstrations in recent times.
Dozens of demonstrators carried signs that read, “Stop ethnic cleansing” and “War is a crime and nationalism kills.”
“30,000” has just been inscribed on a sizable banner, alluding to the number of Israeli casualties during the most recent conflict in Gaza.
Addam stated, “We [the Israelis] are choosing to wage this war.”
“Since October 7, people’s grief has been weaponized,” he continued, describing how a young Israeli woman confronted him during a demonstration and yelled, “Soldiers are dying for you all. Each and every one of you is a shame.”
He further stated that the majority of Israeli leftists will cast their ballots for Kalanu, the joint Jewish-Palestinian party led by former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon.
Tamy Pollak, a socialist activist and resident of Yafa (Jaffa), a mixed Palestinian-Israeli city, asserts that the result of these elections will significantly impact the restoration of tranquillity in mixed cities.
She is concerned that Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, has been arming Jewish civilians in multicultural communities, according to her.
Concern over right-wing advances
Using a loudhailer, Deputy Mayor Meital Lehavi rallied supporters in downtown Tel Aviv to prevent the establishment of additional seats by a far-right political party on the local council.
Meretz, a left-leaning political party that was founded with considerable promise in the 1990s, experienced a decline in support, failed to gain ground in national elections, and was not as prominently featured during the demonstrations against the government’s proposed legal reforms as had been anticipated.
“At present, [Tel Aviv] has an open society; however, that could change [should the right wing flourish],” she explained.
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Plia Kettner, a former member of the local council in Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv, and 39 years old, believes that the conflict is distracting and even discouraging individuals from casting ballots.
She stated, “Some national rhetoric has filtered into local election campaigns, polarising the public.”
“No one opposed the war in the beginning,” she stated.
“However, if you poll individuals on the street, fifty percent will say they want [Israel must continue its efforts to destroy Hamas] in exchange for the return of the hostages, and fifty percent will say they want to negotiate with Hamas.”
