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The choice facing voters in Israel’s Oct. 27 legislative election couldn’t be starker. In the four years since Israelis last went to the polls, constant war—on domestic and foreign fronts—has calcified internal divisions. The upcoming ballot appears to be a straightforward referendum on the performance of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If he secures a plurality, he stays; if not, he goes.

That calculus, for all its elegant simplicity, belongs in an alternative universe. In the convoluted and cacophonous Israeli political system, the vote alone will not determine what comes next. Instead, arguments over policy and personality will fade after election night, as attention shifts to the technical and procedural questions that will shape the future of Israeli politics.

The choice facing voters in Israel’s Oct. 27 legislative election couldn’t be starker. In the four years since Israelis last went to the polls, constant war—on domestic and foreign fronts—has calcified internal divisions. The upcoming ballot appears to be a straightforward referendum on the performance of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If he secures a plurality, he stays; if not, he goes.

That calculus, for all its elegant simplicity, belongs in an alternative universe. In the convoluted and cacophonous Israeli political system, the vote alone will not determine what comes next. Instead, arguments over policy and personality will fade after election night, as attention shifts to the technical and procedural questions that will shape the future of Israeli politics.

A multitude of parties—38 different slates have qualified to run—are........

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