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Israeli settlers gather with their children outside a polling station during Israel’s general election in Hebron in the West Bank, October 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

At a polling station in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, home of far-right firebrand Itamar Ben Gvir in the southern West Bank, voter Lishay Cooper said the country needed a tougher leader than famously hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu has made mistakes, we can’t count on him,” the 22-year-old bookstore employee told AFP. “We need someone stronger.”

Behind her, volunteers for Netanyahu — who is facing a close fight for reelection in Tuesday’s poll — handed out flyers to voters, but privately acknowledged they were on the turf of Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, staunch advocates of the settler movement.

The pair have served as national security and finance minister, respectively, in Netanyahu’s coalition government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history and one of the friendliest to…