Netanyahu's Serbian ally also faces a tough election this week. What's at stake for Israel?

Serbian voters will head to the polls this Sunday, two days before Israelis vote. According to Haaretz, the election could unseat the party of Aleksandar Vucic, an authoritarian ally of Benjamin Netanyahu. A student-led movement is the main challenger in the race and could potentially disrupt the close relationship between the two nations.

In Israel, Gadi Eisenkot is running against Benjamin Netanyahu in what Egypt Independent describes as one of the country's most critical elections. The competition has been marked by a political firestorm after TV host Yinon Magal referred to Eisenkot as a "monkey" managed by "Ashkenazi elites." While Magal later claimed he was using an underworld term for a frontman rather than mocking Eisenkot's Mizrahi-Moroccan heritage, Netanyahu condemned the remarks.

Eisenkot, the 66-year-old son of Moroccan immigrants, grew up in Tiberias and Eilat. Egypt Independent notes that his background stands in contrast to Netanyahu's upbringing in Jerusalem's elite circles, and that his status as a non-Netanyahu figure is one of his strongest electoral assets.

Brief written by urgent.news from Haaretz, Egypt Independent — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.