2026 Israeli Knesset Elections: Between Contestation and Coalition-Building

This fall, both Israelis and Palestinians will vote in legislative elections that may profoundly reshape their political trajectories and determine how these two inextricably tied political systems will interact in the future.

This October's legislative election follows one of the most tumultuous periods in the State of Israel's eight-decade history. Since the last legislative election in 2022, Israelis have navigated widespread civil protests, the October 7th attacks and subsequent war in Gaza, direct military confrontations with Iran, and immensely polarized opinions on domestic and global challenges.

Join the Middle East Initiative for the first session of this two-part series, moderated by MEI Senior Fellow and former U.S. Ambassador Edward Djerejian, as we explore the importance and impact of these elections on their respective polities and the broader region.

Learn more about the first session on Palestine, held on September 22, here.

Moderator: Ambassador (Ret.) Edward P. Djerejian is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1962 after his service in the Army in Korea (1961-1962).  His 32-year diplomatic career spanned eight presidential administrations from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton. Djerejian served both President Reagan and President Bush as U.S. Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic (1988-1991). He then served under President Bush and President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1991-1993).  He was appointed by President Clinton as United States Ambassador to Israel (1993-1994).

Djerejian is a leading expert on national security, foreign policy, public diplomacy, and the complex political, security, economic, religious, and ethnic issues of the broader Middle East. He has played key roles in the Arab-Israeli peace process and regional conflict resolution. He is the author of Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador's Journey Through the Middle East.

Anwar Mhajne, a native of Umm al-Fahem, is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Stonehill College. Her research focuses on feminist security studies, critical cybersecurity, disinformation, and Middle Eastern politics. She is the coeditor of Critical Perspectives on Cybersecurity (Oxford University Press, 2024), and a coauthor, with Anne Sisson Runyan, Crystal Whetstone, and Murat Yilmaz, of the sixth edition of Global Gender Politics (Routledge, 2026).

Eran Schwartz is a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative and Belfer Center, and a PhD candidate in Political Science at Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on democratic resilience, civic mobilization, and coalition-building in polarized societies. He is the founder and former CEO of Democracy Headquarters, the civic coalition that led Israel’s largest pro-democracy mobilization in response to the judicial overhaul.

Barak Sella is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. His research explores U.S.-Israel relations, the evolving relationship between American Jews and Zionism, and the role of civil society in strengthening people-to-people relations between Jewish and Muslim communities across the United States and the Middle East. He is the founder and U.S. Director of Abraham Tent, a nonprofit organization working to strengthen the human bonds between the United States, Israel, and the peoples and countries of the Middle East & North Africa.