OCCUPIED AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Israeli settlers voted on Tuesday in a parliamentary election that could end Benjamin Netanyahu’s nearly two decades of right-wing rule, with the terrorist prime minister fighting for his political survival against corruption charges that could send him to prison if he loses office.
Netanyahu, 77, has spent the final days of the campaign deploying increasingly alarmist tactics, warning of an Iranian plot to disrupt the vote and publishing an AI-generated image of a nuclear mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv, as polls show his bloc trailing the opposition led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
The genocidal prime minister’s legal peril is central to the stakes. Netanyahu has been standing trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. 
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison for bribery and a combined three years for fraud and breach of trust. Critics and analysts have long stated that he has sought to prolong wars and regional tensions to delay his legal reckoning. 
Iran’s foreign minister announced earlier this year that Israel and the United States were deliberately dragging out the war on Iran to let Netanyahu avoid court, a charge echoed by former New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who wrote that Netanyahu kept Israel at war with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah “to postpone his corruption trial”.
In the campaign’s final stretch, Netanyahu has leaned heavily on fear. He released a 0video claiming intelligence indicated Iran and its allies might attack to disrupt the election, warning: “Do not test us. You will receive disproportionate strikes far beyond what you imagine.” 
He posted an AI-generated image showing a nuclear blast over Tel Aviv, accompanied by text attributed to a right-wing commentator describing Iran as an existential threat that renders all other election issues trivial. 
His campaign has plastered billboards reading “Either the Right or Palestine,” and he has attacked Eisenkot as soft on Iran and secretly supportive of Palestinian statehood.
Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar party, has accused Netanyahu of spreading fear for political gain. 
“Netanyahu, you are hysterical. Like every election campaign, the same lies and intimidation tactics,” he wrote on social media. Opposition leader Yair Golan said Netanyahu and his circle “have lost their minds”.
Polls published before the election silence took effect showed neither bloc securing the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority, raising the prospect of prolonged coalition negotiations or another election. 
Netanyahu has also sought repeated public endorsements from U.S. President Donald Trump, who urged Israelis to vote for “Bibi” as a “great warrior prime minister,” citing his hard terrorist line on Iran.
The election is widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu himself — his leadership during the October 7, 2023 Hamas operation, the terrorist wars that followed, and the corruption trial.