Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Hatikva Market in Tel Aviv as part of the Likud party’s election campaign, October 22, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

50 shades of right: An Israeli election primer

While Netanyahu’s bloc adds more extremists to its ranks, his opponents are impeding their own path to power by refusing to work with Arab parties.
By Ben Reiff
Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, surrounded by MK Ahmad Tibi and Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem for a hearing on the Central Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify candidates and parties from running in the upcoming Knesset elections, October 1, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

Israel’s election won’t change the renewed reality of political apartheid

Abu Shehadeh’s disqualification sends a clear message: Jewish-majority state institutions now determine who represents Palestinian citizens.
By Areej Sabbagh-Khoury
Election campaign billboards featuring Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot and Likud party chairman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside opposition leaders, displayed on a road in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, October 17, 2026. (Sharon Leibel/Flash90)

Eisenkot is trying to outflank Netanyahu on the right. It’s a failed strategy

The more hawkish the opposition leader is, the harder it is to explain what alternative he offers — and he’s not the first to make that mistake.
By Amos Brison
Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich tours the Mahane Yehuda Market as part of the party’s election campaign, in Jerusalem, October 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Why Smotrich still defines the horizon of Israeli politics

Israeli liberals have acceded to the maximalist vision of the MK's 2017 ‘Decisive Plan’ — while claiming to oppose ‘messianic’ violence.
By Avi-ram Tzoreff
Leena Dallasheh (courtesy)
PODCAST

What’s at stake for Palestinian citizens in Israel’s election?

Leena Dallasheh discusses the echoes of military rule in today’s crackdown on Palestinian dissent, and the struggle for a more substantive form of citizenship.
By +972 Magazine
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File photo of settlers threatening Israeli activists and Palestinians with sticks in front of the Ma´on settlement, South Hebron hills. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Settlers attack, wound six-year-old Palestinian girl
West Bank settlers attacked a six-year-old Palestinian girl with rocks in the South Hebron Hills on Saturday, wounding her in the head, according to Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem. The girl was wounded after a group of masked settlers threw rocks at her near the entrance to the illegal outpost of Havat Maon, said B’Tselem.…
By Edo Konrad March 21, 2015
American Sniper poster. (Miztixdotcom/CC BY-SA 4.0)
‘American Sniper’: A film of love and ignorance
Some people have said American Sniper is racist, a piece of propaganda, a movie full of hatred. But if you squint and tilt your head, you will see that it is actually a movie full of love and ignorance. By Paula Schmitt While most critics of “American Sniper” are on the right side of issues,…
By +972 Magazine March 21, 2015
Women from the Sub Lahan family sit in their family home, Old City of Jerusalem. (photo: Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)
Palestinian family under threat of eviction by settlers
The Sub Laban family has been living in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City for over 60 years. Now, a right-wing settler group is trying to expel them, with the full support of the state. By Aviv Tatarsky The State of Israel has been trying to expel the Sub Laban family from their home in…
By +972 Magazine March 21, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands on a tractor during a campaign event in the city of Ra'anana in central Israel, February 11, 2015. (Photo by Activestills.org)
How the anti-Netanyahu daily actually brought him to power
Enhance a fear of Iran. Promote a privatization policy. Encourage the view that Israel has no peace partner. If you do all that, don’t expect the voters to reject the person who represents this very worldview. Daniel Dor (translated by Sol Salbe) I recently heard some people saying that we now have the proof that…
By +972 Magazine March 21, 2015
Netanyahu (Yotam Ronen / Activestills)
Netanyahu’s fourth gov’t: The good, the bad and the ugly
The next Israeli government will attempt to preserve the status quo in the West Bank and Gaza at all costs. Facing international backlash, the persecution of leftists and Arabs could rise to dangerous levels. It’s quite clear what the fourth Netanyahu government will look like: A coalition of the Likud’s “natural partners.” These are the…
By Noam Sheizaf March 20, 2015
Young men stand beside an old ship in the Gaza port, Gaza Beach, 20.11.2013 (Basel Yazouri /Activestills.org)
Will Israelis ever hear about attacks on Gaza’s fishermen?
These incidents — in which the Israeli army infiltrates the Gaza Strip, shoots at fishermen, confiscates their boats and fires at farmers near the border zone — they are part of daily life in the besieged Gaza Strip. Hamas militants did not infiltrate the border between Israel and Gaza on Thursday morning. However, four Israeli…
By Haggai Matar March 20, 2015
Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett campaigning. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
With friends like these: How Netanyahu walked all over his closest ally
Netanyahu’s crushing victory wasn’t so much over the Left, which never stood much of a chance to begin with. His true and ruthless triumph was over the Right, and especially over one man — his closest ally, Naftali Bennett.  It is difficult to describe Netanyahu’s victory in Tuesday’s elections as anything other than stunning. Stunning…
By Dimi Reider March 20, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at Bar-Ilan University. (Photo Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
There is no reason to trust Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu can backpedal all he wants, but now it is clear even to his biggest champions that he is no longer interested in the two-state solution. Now it’s up to the White House to take a stand. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s landslide election victory on Tuesday stunned even the biggest pessimists. What looked like a possible…
By Edo Konrad March 19, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)
If Israelis want change, they’ll have to let go of fear
These elections showed that Israelis are guided by their fears of another Holocaust, ISIS, Arab citizens or left-wing NGOs. Now is the time for it to move beyond the scars of the past and make real change, before it is too late. It’s all because of the Holocaust. Yes, these elections revealed the depth of…
By Samah Salaime March 19, 2015
Palestinian, Israeli and international activists protest against Israeli plans to build new settlements in the E1 area of the West Bank, Eizariya, West Bank, March 17, 2015. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
PHOTOS: Israeli army arrests 7 in action against E1 settlement
While Israel was headed to the polls, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists protested Israeli construction in the E1 area of the West Bank near Jerusalem. Text and photos by Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org Palestinian, international and Israeli activists protested against Israeli plans to seize and build in the E1 area, which would cut off the…
By Activestills March 18, 2015
Most Read
  1. 50 shades of right: An Israeli election primer
  2. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  3. Israel's election won't change the renewed reality of political apartheid
  4. Jewish Israelis must do more than stand together with Palestinians
  5. Eisenkot is trying to outflank Netanyahu on the right. It’s a failed strategy
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. Days away from Israeli elections, a ‘sour mood’ pervades the Haredi street
  3. ‘We’ve paid the price for war. We haven’t yet reaped the fruits of peace’
  4. Jewish Israelis must do more than stand together with Palestinians
  5. Israel’s far right has unprecedented power. Why isn’t it satisfied?
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. Why ‘NAZA’ terrifies Israel's liberal elite
  3. Debunking Israel’s latest list of ‘terrorist’ journalists in Gaza
  4. ‘The Gaza Holocaust won't be forgotten’: An Israeli musician screams into the void
  5. ‘NAZA’ is forcing Israelis to reflect. But we Palestinians are not your mirror