Transcript [00:02] Welcome to Waiting for 61, JTA's Israel [00:05] election podcast, where we break down [00:07] the fundamentals of Israel's 2026 [00:10] elections. The politics, the players, [00:12] and what's at stake as the country heads [00:14] to the polls. I'm your co-host, Ani [00:16] Eden, [00:17] >> and I'm Ruth Eglash, JTA's senior Israel [00:19] correspondent. [music] Today marks 14 [00:22] days until Israelis cast their votes. [00:24] >> Just a reminder that every Friday we'll [00:26] be answering questions from you, our [00:28] listeners. So, if something sparks your [00:30] curiosity or there's an aspect of [00:32] Israeli politics you'd like us to [00:33] explain, send us your questions to [00:36] waiting461jta.org. [00:40] Ruth, our question today, um, pretty [00:43] simple or pretty clear. I don't know if [00:45] the answer is simple. Does October 7th [00:48] matter in this election? [00:51] >> That sounds like a simple question. It's [00:53] short, but I'm not sure that it is such [00:55] a simple question. Polls show that [00:58] around 68% I think it was of Israelis [01:02] say that what happened on October 7th is [01:04] central to how they're voting. But when [01:06] you take a look at the landscape of [01:08] Israeli of the you know Israeli [01:11] political landscape you see that [01:13] actually it hasn't changed that much and [01:16] you know we still have the same blocks. [01:18] There's still the same personalities who [01:21] are were there in 2022 with one or two [01:24] minor exceptions. We're really not [01:26] seeing a huge change in the actual [01:29] political landscape. [01:31] >> Yeah. I what I find like sitting here in [01:34] in America, what I find so confusing [01:36] about it is that the one thing that has [01:39] changed, I guess you could say, is that [01:41] the people who want Netanyahu out, if [01:44] you look at the polls, basically it's [01:46] Gotti Eisenot. And so you have a camp [01:50] that presumably wants the change, but [01:53] the candidate that they're rallying [01:55] against, Daddy Eisenhot, and and we'll [01:57] definitely get back to him in some later [02:00] episodes, but you basically have a [02:01] former IDF chief of staff who was very [02:05] much part of the security establishment [02:09] even though he wasn't literally serving [02:12] when October 7th happened. And I think [02:14] it's fair to say he's part of that sort [02:16] of security consensus that was partially [02:19] responsible, right? So it's not as if [02:21] the Israeli public that once changed. I [02:23] keep thinking back to in the United [02:25] States a after the Iraq war, Democratic [02:28] voters didn't pick Hillary or Joe Biden [02:30] who had supported the Iraq war, they [02:32] went the other way. They picked Barack [02:33] Obama who had been totally against [02:35] because they wanted change, real change. [02:38] Do you have any thoughts on that? Like [02:39] it's so interesting to me that people [02:41] they're not they're not gravitating to a [02:43] candidate who's a real outsider, but [02:45] somebody who's actually kind of within [02:47] the establishment that many Israelis [02:49] feel failed that day. [02:50] >> Well, you know, I'm trying to think who [02:52] who else who is running who is outside [02:55] the establishment and there really isn't [02:57] anyone. I mean, everyone in the [02:59] opposition block was in some way or [03:01] another had some kind of role. I mean [03:04] even uh the two new new new new new [03:06] parties that uh have suddenly joined the [03:09] the running led by Offer Winter and uh [03:12] and Yoz Hendel both of them were both I [03:15] mean Offer Winter was a general uh in [03:17] the IDF and uh Yoz Hendel was [03:20] Netanyahu's uh spokesman and then later [03:22] was a Knesset member himself and a [03:24] minister. So everyone um who is at least [03:28] the leaders of the party were involved. [03:30] So it [03:31] >> may maybe Liberman you could say [03:32] Lieberman right that Abdor Lieberman [03:35] >> he was defensive [03:36] >> but he quit but I'm saying he quit he [03:38] Abdor Lieberman to our users know [03:40] listeners know you know is the head of [03:42] the Israel Betenu party a lot of Russian [03:45] speaking voters secular voters you know [03:48] he quit as defense minister because he [03:50] felt they should be had to be tougher on [03:52] kamas right in 2018 but yeah that's my [03:54] point nobody it's not like all the [03:56] change people are say well a girl [03:58] liieberman kind of knew what's up there [03:59] seems to be just a comfort, but you're [04:01] saying in general there's not a lot of [04:03] choices because it was such a security [04:04] consensus. But it's ironic what you say [04:07] about um Avag Avagdor Lieberman because [04:10] you know just a short few years ago he [04:12] was considered the most extreme uh [04:15] right-wing polarizing figure in Israeli [04:17] politics and today he has this there is [04:20] something kind of shiny uh and fresh [04:23] about him and the fact that he did quit [04:25] in 2018 from Netanyahu's government as [04:28] defense minister and the fact that he um [04:32] wasn't in the government uh leading up [04:34] to October 7th I mean he was in the [04:36] change government from 2021 to 2022 [04:39] briefly but I think I'm hearing you know [04:41] from people that there is an appeal [04:43] about him because he stands for the [04:46] right wing and much of the country has [04:48] become more right-wing and but on the [04:50] other hand he wasn't in the [04:51] establishment when October 7th happened. [04:54] So there is something refreshing uh [04:56] about him. I think that that's his [04:58] appeal to his to whoever hasn't voted [05:01] for him before but is deciding to vote [05:03] for him this time around. [05:04] >> It feels to me like in America the I [05:08] think there's a big gap between the [05:11] military and the population. I I don't [05:13] mean an ideological gap. I mean it's a [05:16] distant thing for most Americans. [05:18] They're very detached from the military. [05:20] So if we had the military failing here, [05:22] you can sort of say throw the bums out [05:25] or you know and in Israel it feels like [05:28] because the army is everybody or most [05:31] you know that it's it's not an [05:32] institution even if it fails. It kind of [05:34] feels like Israelis are still turning to [05:37] it in some way, right? That it's still [05:40] going to it has to be part of the [05:41] solution, right? You can't you can't [05:44] just say we're giving up on the IDF in [05:45] Israel. No, but you don't have to you [05:47] don't have to look at the IDF IDF as one [05:49] homogeneous body. There were voices [05:52] inside the army that that had a [05:54] different view or that that kind of [05:57] tried to give a warning, but they [05:59] weren't listened to because the [06:00] overriding view was that Hamas was not a [06:02] threat before October 7th or not a [06:04] serious threat and that, you know, that [06:06] they had this high-tech fence and it was [06:08] going to protect everything and so they [06:10] needed less soldiers along the border. [06:12] But, you know, I think uh I think that [06:15] you're right. It's part of society. And [06:17] I think what's interesting to me, Ammy, [06:18] is how American or especially American [06:20] Jews, how they see this election in in [06:24] the context of October 7th, because [06:26] obviously October 7th didn't just affect [06:28] the people who were in Israel. It [06:29] affected people who were, you know, it's [06:31] affected all of world jury uh in one way [06:34] or another. And so, you know, I think [06:36] that that's why this election has become [06:38] like such a I think I saw one survey the [06:41] other day saying that American jury are [06:43] much more interested in this election [06:45] than any other previous election. I'm [06:47] curious about how American Jews feel [06:50] about this issue and how, you know, [06:52] whether they feel that this government [06:54] should um should not continue. I think [06:57] in America it's probably very similar to [07:01] Israel in the sense of a lot of people [07:04] stick to their priors, right? like [07:06] October se a lot of people say October [07:08] 7th and the fallout is a big thing but I [07:12] think you have a lot of people who then [07:14] will still like go to where they would [07:17] normally go but obviously I think [07:19] there's a group of people who probably [07:21] would have been inclined to support [07:23] Netanyahu and in the past and still [07:26] support him as like a symbol of Israel [07:30] but might think his expiration date is [07:32] up um in a way that they wouldn't have [07:34] I'm I'm not I I don't know if it's [07:36] changing how people would fundamentally [07:38] vote. So you I hear you when you say o [07:41] you mentioned that the commission an [07:43] independent commission that would look [07:45] into October 7th is a is a big issue for [07:48] the candidates. The prime minister sort [07:50] of broke with in the past in Israel you [07:53] would have expected an independent [07:55] commission to look into it. He basically [07:57] said it's it's the deep state and it's [08:00] not so independent and it's going to be [08:01] biased against us. we're going to have [08:03] instead a politically appointed [08:05] commission and that didn't really catch [08:08] on. I'm wondering are there any other [08:10] October 7th issues that are driving the [08:14] election at least among the candidates? [08:16] >> Obviously in on the campaign trail you [08:18] see uh the opposition parties or the [08:21] ones who are calling for a change in [08:23] government using uh elements of October [08:26] 7th accusing uh Natanyahu of not being [08:29] there, of not waking up in time. you [08:31] know, there's this whole debate about [08:33] whether he was warned by his military [08:35] secretary that uh something was [08:37] unfolding in the south and he claims not [08:40] to not to have known, not to have known [08:42] anything. And so the opposition have [08:44] kind of made fun of that point. You [08:46] know, it's interesting actually because [08:48] most of the campaigns today are are now [08:52] AI generated videos. So one video made [08:55] by Eisenot's team is Natanyahu sleeping [08:58] sleeping through his alarm clock and [09:00] sleeping through telephone calls and not [09:02] getting uh you know even to the control [09:05] command and control center in uh IDF [09:08] headquarters um until like 10:30 on [09:11] October 7th. So they've made that a real [09:14] point. Whereas on the on the other side, [09:16] on the pro or on the Netanyahu block, [09:19] the current uh parties that are in the [09:22] government, they um don't really talk so [09:25] much about October 7th. They talk about [09:27] other issues. Although there was one uh [09:29] campaign ad from uh Itar Beng the other [09:33] day saying that if he had been defense [09:34] minister on October 7th, this wouldn't [09:37] have happened. So, he's using it to his [09:39] benefit. In case our listeners don't [09:41] know, um, Benvir is a member of one of [09:44] the far-right parties who's in [09:46] Netanyahu's coalition. [09:48] >> Yes. [09:49] >> Um, so he was basically saying within [09:50] the coalition, had I been the defense [09:52] minister, it wouldn't happen. Right. [09:54] >> He's eyeing for that role in the next [09:57] government if Nel. [09:59] >> Very interesting. We should unpack that [10:02] >> in a future. Sha maybe maybe closer to [10:05] the time or maybe after the election [10:07] when we see the coalition uh debates [10:09] going on we'll see how we can unpack [10:11] that. Just before we wrap up I wanted to [10:14] just go back to what you were saying [10:15] about like Netanyahu and the expiration [10:17] date like how are Americans viewing this [10:20] election in the context of October 7th [10:22] and the fact that that this government [10:25] is still in power and might even come [10:27] back into power? [10:27] >> Yeah. what I what I was yeah I guess [10:29] what I was getting at there is a lot of [10:31] people have their political [10:34] inner compass that probably isn't [10:36] changing a lot but I do think there's a [10:38] a group of people there's two things [10:41] there's the group of people who [10:43] adamantly oppose Nitanya and then [10:45] there's the group that maybe didn't used [10:46] to but now like I me I said the [10:50] expiration date but at the root of it I [10:52] think for both of them is it's [10:54] mindboggling how the government and the [10:57] leader that basically was sitting there. [11:00] Everybody says the worst attack on Jews [11:03] since the Holocaust and they may remain [11:05] in government, right? Like how could [11:07] that be with forgetting your politics? [11:09] Like if you're just an alien coming down [11:11] and you were saying like, "Oh, okay. You [11:14] have a democracy. One one government [11:16] fails and the good thing is now you get [11:17] a new government." It's like no, you [11:19] might get the same government. How? I [11:21] think that is a mindbending question for [11:24] a bunch of people on the outside is, you [11:26] know, American Jews saying, how could it [11:29] possibly be that the government that was [11:32] on watch that day could stay in power? [11:35] >> That's why I asked the question about [11:37] how Americans view this uh view October [11:40] 7th in the context of this election. [11:42] Even for me, I mean, I've lived here [11:43] many years, but even for me as a as [11:45] someone who was born and raised in [11:47] Britain, it seems strange to me that no [11:49] one in the government has taken any [11:51] responsibility and there's no [11:53] accountability at all. [11:54] >> I guess that's half Israelis have the [11:56] same question, right? I mean, that's [11:58] we'll see. We'll see what happens. [12:00] >> Okay, so that's it for today. Thank you [12:03] to our producer, Maya Rackov. And please [12:06] make sure to join us tomorrow for the [12:07] next episode of Waiting for 61. And [12:10] don't forget to send your questions into [12:11] waiting461jta.org. [12:23] [music]
