There is no way to understate the fact that for the first time in the history of the country, the far-right is facing a historic opportunity to achieve power in Israeli politics.
The two leaders of the Religious Zionist Party known as Tkuma - Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir - have a growing support not exclusively among right-wing voters.
They have the power to - for the first time - bring to the polls Israelis who had in the past stayed away from elections altogether, including young people who before were ineligible to vote. This is indeed a pivotal moment.
Ben-Gvir, who was embraced by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu as a legitimate partner in a future coalition, is unlike others in the political arena.
He is a convicted criminal. He was a member of the racist Kach movement, which Israel outlawed and the U.S. labeled as a terror organization, and had incited violence ahead of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo Accords, to end the conflict with the Palestinians.
4 View gallery
Itamar Ben Gvir pulls out his gun during riots in Jerusalem
(Photo: All of the World)
Ben-Gvir was an admirer of Baruch Goldstein, who committed mass murder when he opened fire on Muslim worshipers in the Tomb of Abraham in Hebron in 1995. He famously kept a portrait of Goldstein in his home and only removed it when he began his campaign for elections last year.
Just three years ago, Netanyahu would not have believed you if you told him that the racist provocateur would be in a position to extort him after becoming a poster child of the far-right.
Those in the opposite camp hope that Israelis will shudder at the thought of supporting a man who had come out against the LGBTQ community, and had defended the murderer who had burned a Palestinian family to death.
The hope in Likud is that their party would be big enough to withstand the Religious Zionist demands, even though polling has indicated Ben-Gvir and Smotrich could emerge as the third largest party after Tuesday's ballot.
Allies of Netanyahu had hinted that unlike his party members, he would find more discipline and consent among the far-right legislators who will allow him to take any step necessary to escape the ire of the courts.
Likud members were also aware that as the Religious Zionist is growing at the expense of their own party, putting their safe seats in the next parliament in danger.
As Election Day began, the Netanyahu-led Right seems to be positioned well with parties on the Left, which are still tittering on the brink of failure. Even Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu party appears to be heading for an electoral disaster.
While on the Right, all parties stand to pass the minimum threshold needed to be included in the 25th Knesset. The recent wave of terror attacks has led to the strengthening of the Right, and the emerging coalition is very clear. Likud polls show their constituents are more motivated than in the previous rounds. If Netanyahu does not win under such favorable conditions, he will never win an Israeli election ever again.
But, if Arab Israelis turn out to vote en masse, and exceed 54% participation in the ballot, Netanyahu will not be able to form a government.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yair Lapid who heads the Yesh Atid party, is sticking to his strategy and promoting reconciliation and unity among Israelis. "We are all patriots and Zionists," he told the voters, appealing to former Likud supporters who may refuse to back Netanyahu and his far-right allies.
His party officials say panic has never motivated voters, and that at least one Knesset seat is still up for grabs by either political bloc.
As polls show a tight race, even the weather can play a part in determining Israel's future, since - seemingly poetically - this Election Day began with heavy rain.