Michael Shemesh, the senior political correspondent for Channel 13 and one of the leading haredi reporters in Israeli media, told his social-media followers Sunday afternoon that he has decided who to vote for in Tuesday's election.
He did not reveal which party will receive his vote, not even by hint, but said that in recent weeks he had felt "unexplained stress" over the question and now experiences "a strange relief."
"I've decided who I'm giving my vote to in the 2026 elections, and after several weeks of unexplained stress I feel a strange relief," he wrote. In a classic chareidi blessing, he added, "Soon by you, too."
Shemesh is not the first Channel 13 figure to speak publicly this week about his personal vote. On Motzei Shabbos, presenter Eyal Berkowitz pressed his co-host Moriah Asraf, on air and at length, to reveal who she is voting for.
Asraf said she herself has not yet decided and still does not know who she will vote for, because there are several values that matter to her equally and no party today represents all of them. Berkowitz tried to get her at least to say which bloc she is voting for, the Netanyahu bloc or the opposing one, but his requests came to nothing.
Meanwhile, singer and songwriter Idan Amedi, whose name made headlines during the war after he was wounded in the Gaza Strip, revealed in a video he posted for his followers who he will vote for in the election.
He first called on his followers to vote "for the love of Israel, whoever you think is the leader who will bring us to that place. I think we deserve it, after so many years of internal strife."
He intends to vote for the list of Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha. He explained that he believes in the "third bloc" that is trying to build as broad a coalition as possible. He signed off: "Anyone who feels like cursing me in a story or in messages, it's fine, I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you. Shavua tov."
