Israel is at a crossroads. What began as the country’s most far-right government after years of political instability was soon overtaken by the shock of October 7 and the war that followed. Israeli society has been permanently transformed by the trauma of Hamas’ massacre, yet Israeli politics stands still, dealing with the same unresolved internal grievances and without a clear alternative to its debilitating stalemate around the question of Benjamin Netanyahu. Nonetheless, Israelis will be called to exercise their democratic right this year and determine the very nature of their country: a liberal democracy, or an increasingly authoritarian country with democracy only on paper.