Israel’s next national election will take place on 27 October 2026. It will be the first national election since 7 October 2023 and comes after years of war, political upheaval and growing pressure on Israel’s democratic institutions. 

An election is democratic only when everyone can take part freely and equally, when people can trust the information they receive and when the institutions overseeing the process remain independent. 

That is where NIF comes in. 

NIF does not support political parties, candidates or election campaigns. Our role is to help protect the democratic rules of the game: the right to vote, equal political participation, freedom of speech and protest and confidence that the election process is fair. 

Fair elections in numbers 

• Following a successful legal challenge by an NIF partner, 2 partisan appointees were removed from an election oversight body.  
• 25 million social media views in 30 days in an NIF-supported Go Out To Vote (GOTV) campaign 
• ~85%of harassment cases stopped following  NIF’s intervention.  

Keeping politics out of election oversight 

Fair elections depend on independent institutions. Earlier this year, two Likud political activists were appointed to the Public Committee for Party Funding, the body responsible for overseeing the financing of parties taking part in national elections. 

With support from NIF, Academia for a Democratic Israel challenged the appointments in the Supreme Court. The Court ordered that they be reconsidered and both appointees were subsequently removed. 

This is a practical example of how NIF works: identifying a threat to democratic safeguards, supporting the organisation best placed to act and responding before a problem becomes reality. 

Making sure every voice can count 

A democracy cannot work if some citizens are treated as less legitimate participants than others. 

NIF and our partners have repeatedly defended the right of Palestinian citizens of Israel to participate fully in political life. In 2025, a broad coalition supported by NIF helped stop proposed legislation that could have made it significantly easier to bar Arab parties from standing in national elections. NIF partners also helped prevent the removal of MK Ayman Odeh from the Knesset. 

NIF is supporting several GOTV campaigns among marginalised communities. The aim is simple but fundamental: all citizens should be able to vote freely, participate fully and be treated as legitimate partners in shaping Israel’s future. 

See for yourself here and here.

25 MILLION ORGANIC VIEWS IN 30 DAYS 

In just nine months, NIF partner SADA has built two Arabic-language digital platforms engaging Palestinian citizens, particularly young people, with Israeli politics and civic life.  

50K → 300K views: One political video reached six times as many people after SADA translated and adapted it for an Arabic-speaking audience. 

Protecting voters from manipulation 

Election interference no longer happens only at the ballot box. False accounts, misleading videos, threats, and deliberately fabricated information can reach thousands of people within hours. They can also undermine trust in the electoral process itself. 

NIF partner FakeReporter investigates organised disinformation and online incitement. Ahead of the national election, it has been using lessons from attempted voter suppression in local elections to show Israelis how manipulation campaigns work. 

See for yourself (Hebrew).

The aim is not to tell people what to think. It is to help them recognise when someone is trying to deceive them. 

Protecting the democratic space around an election 

Fair elections depend on much more than what happens on election day. People must be able to protest. Journalists need to be able to report. Educators need space to discuss difficult questions. Civil society organisations need to be able to operate without intimidation. 

NIF’s Civil Society Protection Hub brings together legal, security, digital and psychological support for people and organisations facing threats because of their work or views. In around 85% of cases, the attacks stopped or the threatened activity was able to go ahead safely or successfully. The Hub also ran digital security and de-escalation training and checked activists’ phones for suspected spyware. 

These systems matter throughout the year. They may become even more important as political tensions rise around the election. 

Why NIF? 

NIF responds to immediate threats while investing in the organisations and ideas Israel will need for the long term. 

When an election oversight body is politicised, we support a rapid legal challenge. When false information spreads, our partners investigate it. When people are threatened for speaking out, we help protect them. At the same time, we invest in leadership, education and ideas that strengthen democracy well beyond election day. 

This Rosh Hashanah, help protect every citizen’s right to have a voice in Israel’s future. 

There is no democracy without fair elections.
And there is no democracy without you.