Israel Vote: Police Plan for Street Clashes After Exit Polls

Israeli police expect voting day for the 26th Knesset to pass quietly, then brace for crowds in the streets starting at 10:00 p.m., when exit poll results are released. A senior police official said celebrations or anger could follow either way. Officers will work through the night, the following day and into the weekend. Polling stations alone will not absorb the deployment.

Roughly 22,000 officers are assigned to the operation, against about 17,000 for the previous election. Five large party events fall under police watch: four in Tel Aviv and one for Likud at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. "Every setup like this, and I am referring to party events, requires a very large number of police forces," the official said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a full briefing with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir present. The presentation covered intelligence assessments, hostile terrorist activity, public order risks and operational readiness. Police have trained for three months alongside the Shin Bet and the IDF. The official said Netanyahu and his ministry director-general approved the staff work.

The official also addressed the force's standing under the National Security Minister. "It is completely impossible to hold elections in the State of Israel without an apolitical police force," he said. Police conduct and public perception must remain free of political influence, he added.

Preparation for post-vote disorder began earlier this year. In August, Maariv military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi reported the defense establishment was mapping a plan called "Operation Capitol," built around a claim that one political bloc rejects certified results and moves against public order. The design drew on January 6, 2021, when supporters of Donald Trump entered the US Capitol after his loss to Joe Biden. Retired Maj.-Gen. Sigal Bar-Tzvi, former head of the Police Operations Directorate, led the team that drafted it. The document covers allegations of widespread fraud, interference with vote counting, and a rush by tens of thousands on the Knesset.

A senior retired police officer said Police Commissioner Danny Levy should focus on election night rather than voting day. He sketched a sequence in which a bloc leader rejects results and summons supporters, while the opposing camp counters. In that case, he said, police would require assistance from other bodies, chiefly the IDF.

Retired police and Shin Bet officials have pressed for the scenario to sit at the top of planning priorities, with written orders on force allocation, exercises at National Headquarters and across districts, and a war game for commanders. "It would be a massive failure if it turns out this scenario was not placed at the top of the list," one former security official said. Levy has held periodic talks with former senior officials, some of whom raised concerns. One retired police major general said reliance on the Shin Bet is currently difficult and pointed to a news channel airing weekly polls that diverge from other surveys, which he said could seed a stolen-election narrative. He also flagged civilian firearms and armed groups as a dangerous platform for civil war, and called it "a test of leadership."

The defense establishment has also weighed in on the security question. The IDF and Shin Bet would be called on in the event of a contested transfer of power, according to the senior police official.