As we wait for the midterms in the US, Israelis head to the polls today to elect their next government.
NEW: Israelis head to the polls today as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces one of the biggest electoral tests of his decades-long career. Netanyahu's future is on the line after three years of war, crisis and global outcry over the country's military campaign in the Gaza Strip. Follow live. https://t.co/uT5Qvo2YbX
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 27, 2026
Here's the latest from NBC News' live updates:
New turnout numbers...
🚨🇮🇱Voter turnout in Israeli elections as of 4pm local time (10am ET) reaches 55.7% - the highest since 1973
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 27, 2026
Bibi has already warned in a video that "they are trying to steal the election from us." He pointed to alleged vote-buying involving the Arab party Ra'am and warned about high voter turnout among Arab Israelis.
The video is in Hebrew.
The Times of Israel (10/27/2026) reports on Bibi's message:
Netanyahu warned, “They are trying to steal the election from us.” Referring to alleged voter bribery, he said, “It’s serious. It’s criminal. They will reach every single person. You have been warned.” He urged supporters to turn out, saying, “You must go out and vote,” and “You also must race to the ballot.” He added, “No beach, no barbecue, everyone goes out to vote Likud.” Netanyahu warned that “what hangs in the balance is the future of our Jewish state,” claiming that a government involving left-wing and Arab parties “will bring an end to the Jewish state as we know it.”
The Times of Israel (10/27/2026).
The Times of Israel also reported:
Netanyahu was not the only party leader to allege fraud or issue complaints to the CEC, as Eisenkot’s Yashar, Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad, Ofer Winter’s People of Israel, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am, and Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists-Economic party all reported alleged irregularities, including missing or defaced ballot slips and other suspected attempts to interfere with voting.
However, the CEC said there was no evidence of systematic tampering with ballot slips, adding that individual reports were being addressed immediately.
The Times of Israel (10/27/2026).
Meanwhile, on the arrests:
The Israel Police on Tuesday morning said three operatives for the traditionalist Arab Ra’am party had been arrested on suspicion of bribing voters.
A man was also arrested in Tel Aviv after he apparently tried to stab Democrats party chief Yair Golan in Tel Aviv’s Mesila Park, the party said. While police confirmed that officers had arrested a suspect who approached Golan in possession of a knife, they denied that there was an attempted stabbing.
The Times of Israel (10/27/2026).
Meanwhile back at the asylum...
Puddle is once again attempting to pit neighbor against neighbor...
Narrator: It's a trap. It's bait. Don't fall for it. Vote.
VP Puddle:
Good morning, everybody. I got to be brief here because the president's about to leave from the White House. So excited to go to Michigan today. The president's going to head to Texas. And look, we're just trying to remind people that the choice is between an agenda that prioritizes workers and security and public safety and the agenda of the far-left Democrats.
And it's going to be an easy message to take to Michigan. I think Mike Rogers is a great, I think Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath, and we're going to just try to make the argument as well as we can and help Mike out a little bit.
Reporter: Mr. Vice President, why should Alaskans find it insulting that the administration appears to be suggesting they can't read the word incumbent on their ballots and know to vote for Senator Sullivan?
VP Puddle: Well, I think the question presumes quite a bit. I mean, look, a lot of Alaskans are going to go and look at the ballot and realize exactly what you said, that this is all a big fraud. But people are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that's the definition of electoral fraud, and I don't think that we should endorse it.
And by the way, I think that if the shoe was on the other foot, if we were running somebody whose name was Mary Peltola in the state of Alaska, the media would be accusing us of election fraud. So I think you guys should actually do your job and ask some difficult questions of the Democratic Party. Why are they trying to confuse people? You're right. A lot of people won't fall for it, but some people are going to be confused by that. It's just human nature.
Reporter: Governor Dunleavy's administration said...
VP Puddle: You've asked your question. Thank you.
Reporter: Is Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist like President Trump said yesterday?
I'm sorry?
Reporter: Is Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist like the president said yesterday?
VP Puddle: Well, look, he certainly has a lot of weird friends, and he said a lot of crazy stuff, and he's identified himself with a segment of the Democratic Party, which, by the way, I don't think represents most Democrats in the country, but unfortunately it represents a lot of elected Democrats who seem to align with people who justify violence against the United States of America.
I don't know what's in the guy's heart. I just know he has a lot of weird friends.
Reporter: Let me ask you, do you think that Tucker Carlson's criticism of Rogers and his defense of El-Sayed is going to have an impact in the Senate race in Michigan?
VP Puddle: You know, look, I'm not a political prognosticator, man. What I will say is I think Mike is fundamentally a decent guy and the kind of public servant that you want in Washington, D.C.
And I think any Republican or any conservative who looks at this race and sees, on the one hand, Abdul El-Sayed, who maybe more than any Democrat running in the nation has engaged in the kind of explicitly anti-white racial hate movement that has become common in the Democratic Party, I'd say that person should not be elected.
I think what Republicans stand for is whether you're black or white, we're for everybody. And as El-Sayed is, again, more than anybody, a guy who seems to love to traffic in racial hate, we should reject that guy. As conservatives, we should reject him as Americans. And that's obviously a big part of what I'm going to be saying later today.
I'll talk to you guys later. Thank you.
Forbes YouTube Auto Transcript. 10/27/2026.
Narrator: It's racism.
I can't even...
Narrator: Someone needs to come get Grandpa Ranty.
