Do Israelis feel any safer now than they did on October 6, 2023?

Despite having rarely been more secure, public concerns about security continue to dominate the election. Israel’s upcoming general election coincides with the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks, and the issues that concern voters relate, directly or indirectly, to the wars this event triggered. There is ultra-Orthodox anger about conscription, an economy affected by conflict, and questions of culpability for the Hamas-led assault. Security issues have dominated Israeli public discourse for the past three years since the genocidal war on Gaza began, during which Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians. The war has also seen Israel exchange strikes with the Houthi rebels in Yemen, bomb neighbouring Syria and Lebanon, occupy their territories, and join the United States in launching at least two major attacks on Iran, widely perceived as the country’s main nemesis.

For a public still shaken by the events of October 2023, accompanied by a chorus of public figures warning of Israel’s imminent destruction, there has barely been a day when Israelis have not been reminded that their country is engaged in conflict. Israeli politicians, hungry for votes, have been eager to push this issue to the forefront of their campaigning. Ayala Panievsky, a lecturer in politics and journalism at City St George’s, University of London and the author of The New Censorship, said national