Israel’s election: Five key things to know

Israelis will head to the polls on Tuesday for legislative elections. The vote, the first since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, is being called one of the most important in its history . It will determine the direction of Israel’s government as the country remains embroiled in multiple years-long conflicts, faces growing international criticism and grapples with deepening polarisation at home. Any party clearing an electoral threshold of 3.25 percent enters parliament, whose term lasts four years. The first is the pro-Netanyahu coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and joined by several far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.