When the polling stations close in just a few hours, Israeli TV will release the results of the 2015 election's exit polls. At time of writing, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem had no information about Israeli missions abroad that are planning to host election parties — the kind of traditional diplomatic event to which top journalists, politicians and opinion-shapers are invited, so that together they can watch the celebration of democracy at the end of election day.

One Israeli diplomat serving at a major embassy in Europe told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that most journalists who cover foreign affairs in the capital, where he is posted, have decided this time to go to Israel themselves, so that they can get a bird’s eye view of what the local media is describing as Israel’s most riveting and important election ever. “What is happening and what could happen suddenly seems interesting to them,” the diplomat said.

The director of the Government Press Office, Nitzan Chen, told Al-Monitor that his staff is serving a record number of journalists who came to Israel to cover election day, saying, “Twice as many journalists, about 200, have come to cover these elections as came to cover the 2013 elections. And they keep coming.”

International attention on the elections reached a turning point when a growing number of assessments predicted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could actually lose power. Foreign diplomats serving in Israel claim that once the possibility of significant political change in the composition of the government — and not least the person heading that government — became tangible, staff covering the region in various foreign ministries around the world started asking for more and more updates. Reports from Israel were in greater demand and received increasing attention.