A look at the main issues in Israeli elections seen as a referendum on Netanyahu

Israelis will vote Tuesday in the first national elections since Hamas' Oct.

Key points

• Instead, candidates have focused on Netanyahu's leadership and moral character; his role in the security breakdown on Oct.
• The deadliest day in Israel's history features prominently in the campaign, but not in the way plenty of outsiders might expect.

Israelis will vote Tuesday in the first national elections since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in what is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership.

Notably, the deadliest day in Israel's history features prominently in the campaign, but not in the way plenty of outsiders might expect.

There's been almost no debate over Israel's wartime conduct in Gaza – which led to an international arrest warrant against Netanyahu – its occupation of much of southern Lebanon and parts of Syria, or its two wars introduced against Iran, all of which have broad backing.

Instead, candidates have focused on Netanyahu's leadership and moral character; his role in the security breakdown on Oct. 7; his efforts to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and a 2023 judicial overhaul seen by critics as an assault on Israel's democratic institutions.

Both of the main electoral blocs are dominated by parties that backing Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, and no major candidate is advocating a return to the long-moribund peace process. Here's a closer look.

In short, a look at the main issues in Israeli elections seen as a is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.