Security is more important than economy: what worried the Israelis during the elections On October 27, Israel held elections for the Knesset. Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party won 27 mandates out of 120, while Gadi Eisenkot's Right had 21. The Netanyahu bloc, which includes the Likud, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, won 53 mandates, the opposition bloc 48, and two Arab parties, the Joint List and Rimou, received a record 202 in Netanyahu's 19. The bloc received 64 mandates. These are the problems with which the Israelis went to the elections. Security was defined by 56% of respondents as the most important problem in the country, including crime, violence, public safety, war and conflict. The economy (prices, standard of living, wages) and politics (government spending, corruption, taxes) were selected by 10% each, social problems by 6%, food and housing by 4%, education by 3%, health services and work by 2%. The difference between the topics is huge: security is more than five times ahead of the next important topic. Netanyahu has no victory, but no defeat either, and either weeks of coalition negotiations or new elections are expected. Both blocs will try to gain support for the missing mandates, including from Arab parties, and the issues of Gaza, Iran and the Abraham Accords also depend on the future government.

Security is more important than economy: what worried the Israelis during the elections On October 27, Israel held elections for the Knesset. Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party won 27 mandates out of 120, while Gadi Eisenkot's Right had 21. The Netanyahu bloc, which includes the Likud, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, won 53 mandates, the opposition bloc 48, and two Arab parties, the Joint List and Rimou, received a record 202 in Netanyahu's 19. The bloc received 64 mandates. These are the problems with which the Israelis went to the elections. Security was defined by 56% of respondents as the most important problem in the country, including crime, violence, public safety, war and conflict. The economy (prices, standard of living, wages) and politics (government spending, corruption, taxes) were selected by 10% each, social problems by 6%, food and housing by 4%, education by 3%, health services and work by 2%. The difference between the topics is huge: security is more than five times ahead of the next important topic. Netanyahu has no victory, but no defeat either, and either weeks of coalition negotiations or new elections are expected. Both blocs will try to gain support for the missing mandates, including from Arab parties, and the issues of Gaza, Iran and the Abraham Accords also depend on the future government.