Israel has set a date for its first national election since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, giving citizens a chance to judge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition - assuming the Knesset can stop passing controversial laws long enough to dissolve itself.

The vote will take place on 27 October, with the Knesset dissolving Friday. In its final days, what is widely considered the most far-right government in Israel's history is rushing to pass laws that include weakening the attorney general and equating Torah study with military service, presumably so ultra-Orthodox parties can keep their draft exemptions while settlers continue their West Bank expansion campaign.

Netanyahu, 76, faces not only a political fight but also a corruption trial, despite Donald Trump's calls for a preemptive pardon. Current polling suggests voters may kick him out, but the man who has led Israel for most of the last three decades is a known political Houdini. On his watch, Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people on 7 October 2023, leading to a war in Gaza that a UN commission has deemed genocidal, and a war on Iran that most Israelis believe they lost.

Yet Netanyahu will serve his full term - the first Israeli PM to do so in decades - because coalition politics make early elections the norm. The last on-schedule election was in 1988. He's campaigning on national security, with a message that only he can keep Israelis safe. Analyst Dahlia Scheindlin calls it "either the most sophisticated strategy ever - or desperate. Perhaps both."

His main challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose son and two nephews were killed in Gaza - contrast with Netanyahu's two sons, who did not serve. Eisenkot's Yashar party now leads Likud 24-23 in one poll. An ad mocking his accented English may backfire as Israelis consider his professional success and personal sacrifice.

Netanyahu's fluent English and international connections once were assets, but his policies have isolated Israel, with support even slipping in the US. Rahm Emanuel called Israel a "pariah" during a recent visit. Even if voters oust Netanyahu, however, Eisenkot's record as military commander in the West Bank during the second intifada and his role in the unity government that cut off food and fuel to Gaza suggest no major shift on Palestinian relations.