1. What are people actually voting for?

Technically, the vote cast is for a party. The leader of the party that garners the most votes, however, is most likely to become prime minister, provided they can form a government. But that does not happen right away. The formal election results, due to be published no later than Nov. 4, only set the process of forming a government and choosing a prime minister in motion.

2. How many people and what percent of Israelis are eligible to vote?

Some 7,331,981 Israelis are eligible to vote, which is 71.15% of the overall 10,305,000 population. In the last election in 2022, there were 6,788,804 eligible voters, who made up 70.31% of the 9,656,000 population.

Voter participation in Israel is typically high, and in that election, 70.63% of the eligible voters, 4,794,593 people, cast their votes.

3. How many votes does a party need to be in the Knesset, and how many parties are expected to secure that amount?

To enter the Knesset, a party needs the support of 3.25% of the votes cast, known as the threshold. That figure is the equivalent of four seats, known as mandates. Based on multiple recent polls, out of 38 registered parties, only 11 are expected to receive such support. Another four hover close to it. The party’s size also determines the number of parliamentarians it will have in the Knesset. The party leader that can gain enough allies to form a coalition becomes prime minister. Usually, this coalition has at least a majority of parliamentarians – 61 of 120 seats – but it’s not a requirement. Minority governments led by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, 1993-1996 held a plurality, but not a majority, of the seats. They were able to govern with the support of parties outside the coalition.

Parties predetermine their list of potential parliamentarians and rank them prior to the election, either through primaries or unilateral decisions by the party leader. The bigger the percentage of the vote they receive, the higher the number of members that party gets to send to the legislature. Voting in Israel is often a strategy game, where people choose between making sure their vote counts by supporting a party certain to enter the Knesset or risk making their vote insignificant by backing a party that doesn’t hit that mark.

4. Who are the prime contenders?

Incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the ruling Likud Party, is vying to hold onto the premiership. According to most polls, the person who is leading, however, is former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who heads a newly formed party, Yashar. But a parliamentary system is not a two-party system and technically any leader of a party that passes the threshold and who is also slated to enter parliament can become prime minister if they can form a coalition that can secure the support of a Knesset majority. It is usually the case, though, that the head of the largest party is given first shot at coalition building.

5. How are the coalitions lining up now?

In many past elections, blocs were linked by common ideology, with some of the dividing lines being the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, social welfare policies or religious issues. Netanyahu’s record as the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history has increasingly turned campaigns from ones based on issues to personality. The blocs are more about who supports Netanyahu and who doesn’t than any other issue, allowing for parties on the right and the left to band together in ways that previously might not have been considered possible.

Heading into the home stretch of the election, Netanyahu’s bloc of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties slightly trailed Eisenkot’s bloc, which ranges from right-wing to left-wing and includes parties that are more or less in the center of the ideological spectrum – one that has swung sharply right in the decades following the Second Intifada and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

But polls show neither bloc over 61, so the direction of the next government will likely be determined by a handful of smaller parties that are struggling to pass the 3.25% vote threshold or Arab parties that Zionist parties usually have not been willing to include in governing coalitions. The government led by Naftali Bennett 2021-2022 included an Arab party in the coalition, but not among its ministers. The Rabin-Peres 1993-1996 governments had the support of Arab parties outside the coalition.

6. Once results are in, what must happen to swear in a new government?

Within a seven-day period after the formal election results are published, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will decide who is given the first shot at forming a government, based on which party leader in the Knesset he believes has the best chance to pull in enough parties to create a governing coalition. The candidate must be a Knesset member but his (this year, all the viable parties are led by men) party does not need to have the largest number of votes or even the second-largest.

Herzog will make his determination after holding private audiences with all the party heads and receiving recommendations from them on which Knesset member they would support for the premiership. The candidate Herzog chooses has 28 days to form a governing coalition, with the possibility of a 14-day extension. That coalition must then be approved by a majority of the Knesset members present for the vote. During those 28-plus days, the prime ministerial candidate seeks to sway parties to join his coalition, often by promising powerful ministerial positions and agreeing to support their policy agenda. It’s a delicate balancing act because some parties refuse to sit with other parties or would not want to sit in a coalition that advances certain agenda items.

7. What if that candidate for premiership fails to form a government?

Should the first prime ministerial candidate fail, the president has three days to choose another candidate, often the Knesset member who heads the second-largest party. The only requirement is for the candidate to be a Knesset member. The same 28-day timeline applies, but with no extension if that candidate fails. The president could also decide not to appoint a candidate and to inform the Knesset that no candidate can form a government, a position the president is required to take if the second candidate for premiership fails to form a government.

8. What happens if the president tells the Knesset no government can be formed?

There is a 21-day period during which 61 parliamentarians can petition the president to grant a candidate, who must be a Knesset member, the power to form a government. The president has two days to grant that request and gives the candidate 14 days to form a government, which then needs the support of the Knesset. If no petition arrives or the appointed candidate fails to form a government, the Knesset dissolves and a new 90-day election cycle begins.

9. Can the Knesset legislate during the process of forming a government?

Yes. The 120 members of the 26th Knesset will be sworn into office 14 days after Oct. 27 and begin legislating without a government or a prime minister. The Knesset is dissolved within months, however, if a government cannot be formed and a new election is called. In the interim, the outgoing prime minister and his government remain in power in a lame-duck capacity.

Naomi Limor Sedek is Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s president and CEO.

Marissa Marczak, a Randolph-Macon College graduate, is pursuing her medical education at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Her volunteer work with individuals with disabilities and free medical clinics has inspired her interest in treating patients with neuro disabilities. A former Hillel president, Marczak credits her Birthright Israel experience with strengthening her Jewish identity and commitment to advocating for Jewish students.

Olivia Pooley, an Old Dominion University graduate, is pursuing a career as a physician assistant through EVMS at ODU. A volunteer emergency medical technician with Virginia Beach EMS, she has dedicated thousands of hours to helping people during medical emergencies. Her Birthright Israel experience reinforced her commitment to tikkun olam, repairing the world, and serving others with dignity and compassion.

Ryan Mancoll, an Elon University graduate and EVMS medical student, has a strong interest in surgery and clinical research. He has held leadership roles in several medical student organizations while volunteering with the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad. Mancoll credits his involvement in BBYO with teaching him the importance of Jewish community, belonging, and investing in others.

Through their education and service, all three recipients are carrying forward the Feldmans’ belief that caring for others is among the most meaningful investments a community can make.

Shai Zittrain is Simcha BBG Mazkirah.

Skylar Caplan is Eastern Region’s 4th Mazkirah and a member of Simcha BBG.

A mother’s perspective on one JCC program – Summer Camp

Zibby Robertson shared the joy of watching her child fall more deeply in love with being Jewish through the encouragement of summer camp counselors and the friendships formed with fellow campers.
“Top-quality Jewish summer camp, with counselors who care and fellow campers who become lifelong friends, is an experience that every Jewish child should be able to access and enjoy, AS ONE,” she said.

Building the future of Jewish leadership from Next Gen 757 to Nadiv

Danny Rubin spoke about his journey alongside his wife, Shikma.
After the couple decided to move back to Tidewater from Northern Virginia, they sought opportunities to connect, engage, and grow, and found ways to become involved individually, and later, as a family.
“Starting out in what was then the YAD program (now Next Gen 757) and moving gradually onto boards and committees, and eventually starting Nadiv, which has become a thriving young men’s fundraising division of the UJFT Campaign,” Rubin explained, “I am confident that the future of our Jewish community will be in good hands, because together, our Next Gen participants are learning and working. I’m proud to join with all of you in investing in and ensuring the future and future leadership of our Jewish community, AS ONE.”

Discovering a lasting Jewish connection

Amelia Portnoy, a local BBYO chapter president, shared how her BBYO experience unexpectedly deepened her connection to the Jewish community and strengthened her Jewish identity. As she looks ahead to high school graduation and college, she expressed her hope of continuing to nurture the relationships she had built and build new ones with young Jewish students on campus.
Amelia thanked Tidewater’s Jewish community for supporting the Federation’s Campaign, which helps fund BBYO and gives Jewish teens opportunities to learn, grow, and connect with one another. That support, she said, enables Jewish teens to “grow from their experiences and connect to Jewish values which have always sustained and kept us together, AS ONE.”

A school that feels like family

Jamie Kaufman Baker, an SIA mother and kindergarten teacher, shared her own lifelong connection to the Jewish community.
Her memories began with attending JCC preschool in Norfolk and continued through summers as a JCC camper, followed by roles as a CIT and counselor. Baker recalled something her friend and colleague, Elyssa Brinn, now director of the SIA Early Years program, once told her: “Every day, parents bring you their hearts (their children) and ask you to keep them beating until they return.”

Those words captured the kind of care Baker knew she would want for her own children. When it came time to choose a school for her family, SIA was the natural choice. Baker described the school as a village — a place that does more than keep children safe. It teaches, inspires curiosity, encourages questions, and instills the values that make a strong community. Perhaps most importantly, it teaches children that being part of a community means contributing, caring, and taking action. Because of the work being done today, Baker said, “our children can stand here 40 years from now with strong Jewish identities, a sense of spirituality, and a commitment to making the world a better place.”

She closed by thanking the community for its support of SIA, reminding everyone that “Strelitz is not just a school. It is a gift we received — and a gift we ALL have the opportunity to give forward, AS ONE.”

These were just a few of the stories shared during the evening, representing a cross-section of the many agencies and programs supported by the UJFT Community Campaign. Together, they illustrated the Campaign’s remarkable reach and the countless ways it touches lives throughout Tidewater’s Jewish community.

Jason Hoffman, UJFT Campaign chair, closed the evening with a call to action, encouraging everyone in attendance to reflect on the stories they had heard, consider how the Federation’s Community Campaign affects them personally, strengthens their families, and enriches the broader community; and to make their own personal pledge of support.

Each story served as a reminder that a collective impact is far greater than what can be accomplished individually. We are stronger together. We are one community. We act AS ONE.

To make a gift in support of the UJFT Community Campaign or learn more about how Campaign dollars are allocated and put to work, visit jewishva.org/donate or email Amy Zelenka at azelenka@ujft.org.

To register to receive a Thanksgiving food package, visit bit.ly/JFSgiving.