Netanyahu Rallies Likud Voters With Megaphone as Polls Close

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu picked up a megaphone inside a shopping mall on Oct. 27 and told shoppers bluntly what was at stake for his party in the final minutes before polls closed: "If you don't go and vote, we will lose," according to Al Jazeera, which filmed the appeal as part of its Israel Election 2026 coverage.

The outlet reported that the appearance coincided with what it described as Israel's highest election turnout in 50 years, a figure Al Jazeera attributed to its own election-day reporting rather than to an official tally published alongside the video.

What did Netanyahu say inside the shopping mall?

The footage, published by Al Jazeera's newsfeed desk, shows Netanyahu addressing shoppers directly rather than through a scheduled rally stage, a tactic aimed at reaching undecided or disengaged voters as polling stations neared closing time. His single recorded line — the warning that Likud would lose without a final push to the ballot box — was framed by the network as an urgent, last-minute appeal rather than a prepared campaign speech. Al Jazeera did not report Netanyahu taking questions from shoppers or elaborating beyond the megaphone appeal in the clip it published.

How high was turnout in the 2026 election?

Al Jazeera described turnout as the highest in 50 years without citing a specific percentage or vote count in the video's published description. The network tied the surge in participation to the closing hours of voting, the same window in which Netanyahu made his mall appearance, suggesting the two developments were covered together rather than independently verified against each other.

What else did Al Jazeera report on election night?

The same Al Jazeera election-night feed that carried the Netanyahu clip also published separate short videos describing Bezalel Smotrich celebrating despite what the network's own headline called a "far-right decline," Arab towns in Israel marking what Al Jazeera termed "historic Knesset gains" with fireworks, and a crowd in the Arab Bloc chanting "Go home, Ben-Gvir" while celebrating record turnout. Al Jazeera did not provide seat counts or vote shares in the headlines or descriptions accompanying those clips, so the scale of any shift for Smotrich's bloc, Ben-Gvir's standing, or Arab-majority parties could not be independently confirmed from the material reviewed.

What is the timeline of election day?

• Polls open across Israel on Oct. 27 for the 2026 Knesset election, per Al Jazeera's live coverage.
• In the final minutes before closing, Netanyahu uses a megaphone inside a shopping mall to urge Likud supporters to vote, telling them the party will lose without a last push.
• Al Jazeera reports turnout reaching its highest level in 50 years as polls close.
• Separate Al Jazeera clips from election night show celebrations among Arab towns, a reaction from Smotrich described as dancing despite a reported far-right decline, and chants targeting Ben-Gvir from Arab Bloc supporters.

What should readers watch for next?

• Official turnout figures and seat allocations from Israel's Central Elections Committee, which Al Jazeera's video did not include.
• Whether Likud's final vote share matches the urgency of Netanyahu's closing-hours appeal.
• The extent of any decline for the far-right bloc referenced in Al Jazeera's Smotrich clip, and whether it affects coalition arithmetic.
• Knesset seat totals for Arab-majority parties following the gains Al Jazeera described in Arab towns on election night.

Glossary: key terms in this story

• Likud: Netanyahu's political party, the subject of his megaphone appeal.
• Knesset: Israel's parliament, whose composition is determined by the election referenced in this story.
• Arab Bloc: A grouping referenced by Al Jazeera in connection with record turnout and gains for Arab-majority parties.
• Far-right bloc: The political grouping Al Jazeera's video headline associated with Smotrich and a reported decline on election night.

Al Jazeera's published video is the sole source corroborated for this report; no additional outlet or official results release was available at the time of filing. Readers seeking certified vote totals should consult Israel's Central Elections Committee once final results are released.

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