It was a quintessential Israeli happening.
Families with babies in strollers, young adults with electric scooters in hand, singles with dogs in their arms and seniors, some aided by walkers or wheelchairs.
It was a common scene at polling stations across the country as millions of Israelis voted Tuesday in record numbers in a watershed election many described as historic and unprecedented in importance, though pundits called it too close to call.
A festive if serious air punctuated the day, a public holiday in the country, as exceptionally long lines of unusually serene, if tense, Israelis snaked around schools and community centers toward voting booths, giving real-time meaning to news alerts reporting record-breaking turnout.
Just outside the polling stations, volunteers from a mix of opposing parties handed out stickers and tried to convince eleventh-hour decision-makers to vote for their candidates, while kids looking to do business sold refreshments in the courtyards on a temperate autumn day.
“It’s a holiday for democracy,” Nati Adi, 40, of Tel Aviv told JNS as he held the hand of his 6-year-old son, Ari, while standing in line. “It’s nice to see that so many people care about voting.”
Carmela Israeli, 31, held her mixed Labrador, Mike, in one hand and her ID and voting card in the other as she entered the classroom to vote with her dog.
“He votes for the party of snacks,” she said.
The election, the first since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, was largely seen as a referendum on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served a cumulative 19 years in office.
“It is an election unlike any we have had here because all Israelis have been traumatized by Oct. 7,” Amotz Asa-El, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, told JNS on Tuesday. “Never in the past did Israelis feel that this is an election as fateful as this one, some with hope and others with trepidation.”
“The record-breaking turnout is a testament to the feeling that these are the most critical elections which will determine the future of the State of Israel,” Hebrew University of Jerusalem political scientist Gayil Talshir told JNS. “It is also part of the ethos of the new Israeli taking his fate in his own hands and going out to vote.”
Despite the seriousness of the election, families were making the most of the day.
At a park down the block, a family was holding an Election Day birthday party for their 10-year-old son, Yair, with boxes of pizza and quiches piled high on the picnic tables.
“Of course we went to vote first,” said Ilanit Cohen, 45. “We are just taking advantage of the day off as well.”
As voters exited a Tel Aviv polling station, volunteers handed out bumper stickers with a typically Israeli message: “I voted and earned the right to complain.”
