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Back from Gaza
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/boat630.jpgIsraeli soldiers dock a vessel after patrolling near the southern Gaza Strip before voting near Ashdod. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
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Ensuring the military vote
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/soldiersvote630.jpgNavy soldiers cast votes at an military base in Ashdod, Israel, ahead of the election proper. Israel Defence Forces members vote before the rest of the country to ensure all soldiers have a chance to cast a ballot. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
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A strange sight
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/weird630.jpgIsraelis wait for a bus in Tel Aviv beside a curious poster for an Israeli school displaying the manipulated image of Binyamin Netanyahu a day before the election. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
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Legacy appeal
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/netanposter630.jpgLikud party activists hang campaign posters for prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu reading “Only Netanyahu will guard Jerusalem” in Hebrew under David's Citadel at Jaffa Gate in the Old city, in the final days of the parliamentary election campaign. Photograph: Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images
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Seeing the light
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/tzipi630.jpgTzipi Livni, head of Hatenuah centrist party and former foreign minister when leading the Kadima party, holds a lighter aloft during an event to mark the end of her party's campaign in the southern town of Sderot. Livni founded the centrist Hatenuah two months ago. According to opinion polls, Hatenuah could capture up to 11 seats in the legislature. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
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Attack on prices
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/yair630.jpgYair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, speaks to campaign volunteers in the southern city of Ashkelon a day ahead of the ballot. Formed this year by Lapid, a popular TV personality who recently turned to politics, the party is promoting secular, centrist politics and has attacked Benjamin Netanyahu over rising prices for power, water, petrol and housing. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
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Strong in polls
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/shelly630.jpgLabour party leader Shelly Yachimovich gestures during a ceremony for Tu Bishvat, the Jewish arbor day, in Ben-Shemen forest, near the Israeli town of Modiin, near the end of her election campaign. Opinion polls have shown Labour, which ruled Israel for decades but now holds only eight seats in parliament, bouncing back to second place behind Likud under the new leader. Photograph: Nir Elias/Reuters
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The scramble
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/scramble630.jpgFacing the scrum: Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right Bayit Yehudi party, amid a wall of media personnel during a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City a day before the election. Bennett has emerged as the surprise success story of the country's election campaign. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters
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A final speech
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/speech630.jpgBinyamin Netanyahu stands with Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat (right) and communications minister Moshe Kahlon outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem for eve-of-election appeals. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters
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Wondering about the future
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/orthodox630.jpgUltra-Orthodox Jews gather during an anti-election rally in the conservative Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem days ahead of the election. Photograph: Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images
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Family gathering
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/netanvote630.jpgPrime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and their sons Yair (second right) and Avner pose after casting their ballots at a polling station in Jerusalem. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Pool/Reuters
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Holy of Holies
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/netanwall630.jpgBenjamin Netanyahu places a note in the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City after casting his ballot. Israelis look set to elect him to a third term with a smaller majority, pushing the Jewish state even further to the right, away from peace with Palestinians and towards a showdown with Iran. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Pool/Reuters
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Casting his ballot
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/voter630.jpgAn ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in a polling station in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kochav Ya'acov, north of Jerusalem. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters
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The patriarch
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/01/peres630x.gifIsrael's President Shimon Peres casts his vote in the general election in Jerusalem. The latest opinion polls suggest Benjamin Netanyahu will return to office, albeit with a reduced majority. Photograph: Moshe Milner/GPO via Getty Images
