Normality or Sparta: Israel’s choice could hardly be clearer

Israelis have repeatedly been told they are facing the most important election in their country’s history. Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, another description seems equally compelling: this is an election with an exceptionally clear choice. The past week has exposed two competing visions of Israel’s future. One offers permanent mobilisation, deepening isolation and religious coercion. The other carries the possibility of something Israelis desperately need: normality.

The choice is between normality and Sparta, a characterisation that Netanyahu himself gave as his vision for the country. But making that choice meaningful requires more than removing Benjamin Netanyahu. It requires the leaders of the Change Bloc to recognise that a democratic alternative cannot be built by excluding the elected representatives of Israel’s Arab citizens.

Netanyahu’s campaign has made the stakes unmistakable. His renewed threats against Iran offer voters the prospect of another war, while his economic vision prepares them for the international isolation his government’s policies are helping produce.

On Sunday, just two days before polling day, Netanyahu sharpened that message by sharing an AI-generated image depicting an atomic bomb falling on Tel Aviv. The image distilled Netanyahu’s electoral offering: a future dominated by existential fear, in which demands for accountability and shared responsibility are pushed aside. This is the Sparta Israelis are being asked to accept.