“This is your house,” said our guide Oded, as we sat in the viewing pavilion of the Knesset chamber. It is August 2026, and the usually boisterous chamber sits empty on its summer and pre-election recess. Israel’s Central Election Committee is running public tours of the Knesset, so the public can learn about the upcoming election, raising trust in the process. The Knesset building has shifted mode, from the rough and tumble of party politics to the role of organizing its own refresh; the building is now the operating center as the Committee arranges Israel’s 26th election.
Oded is correct, as he brings us into the beating heart of Israeli democracy. Ever since Israel’s first election in 1949, the Knesset has been the home of “we, the people.” The citizens of Israel choose the 120 lawmakers, and are able to attend any Knesset debate that they want to, as well as being able to view all Knesset debates live. Each few years the public gets to assess their performance, and the ability to choose new representatives.
From the nerve center in the Knesset, the actual experience of democracy reaches every corner of Israel and even beyond. The over 7 million eligible Israeli voters will cast their ballots in over 12,000 polling centers; many in kindergartens and schools, with some in hospitals too. IDF soldiers across Israel’s many fronts will also be able to vote – from fortifications along Gaza’s ‘yellow line’, to the Beaufort Castle in the security zone in the north, soldiers and reservists will choose who they want to make the decisions about the war they are fighting. Israeli shlichim, including the Morim Shlichim sent by the WZO, are able to vote in Israeli consulates abroad. In what has become an informal Israeli tradition, the final results of the elections take a few days, due to the votes of Israeli soldiers at sea taking longer to be counted.
If you live in Israel, take advantage of your opportunity to choose our country’s leadership. Our state is an ongoing project, and this is our chance to decide whose vision for the country we want to empower. Get out and vote, and choose for our home.
Rabbi Aron White is the Managing Editor of HaMizrachi magazine. He lives in Carmay HaNadiv, Kiryat Malachi, and serves as the Rabbi of Beit Knesset Tzameret Arnona in Yerushalayim.