Israelis are voting, deciding between Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist rival Benny Gantz

Benjamin Netanyahu votes
(Image credit: Ariel Schalit/AFP/Getty Images)

Israelis are voting in national elections on Tuesday, and the election has shaped up to be a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is vying for a history-making fifth term, the last four consecutive. If he wins, 69-year-old Netanyahu will overtake founding father David Ben-Gurion as the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.

Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party and the new centrist Blue and White alliance, led by former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz, are neck-and-neck in the polls. Gantz's party, formed in February with other military leaders and popular Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, took a late lead in the polls, but Netanyahu is still favored to form the next coalition government. No party has ever won a majority of the Knesset's 120 seats.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.