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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Wake-up Call: And the winner is…
One group of Israeli citizens already won the Israeli elections — before voting even began. Ami Kaufman has a wake-up call for you. Click here for +972′s full coverage of Israeli elections
By Ami Kaufman March 17, 2015
EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, July 11, 2014. (EU Photo)
If Netanyahu is re-elected, Israel has a Europe problem
Nobody ever thought the window for a two-state solution would ever truly close — or be closed. Benjamin Netanyahu just declared it so in a last-ditched attempt to rally his base ahead of elections. Forget whatever temporary crisis Benjamin Netanyahu created with the United States in his campaign speech on the Hill. If Netanyahu is…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man March 16, 2015
Israeli soldiers take away two Palestinians they’ve arrested, one of them while unconscious, Qaryut, West Bank, March 15, 2015. (photo: Activestills.org)
Army arrests unconscious activist at Corrie commemoration
During an olive planting action to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians–one of them while unconscious. Text and photos by: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org Marking 12 years since the death of Rachel Corrie, activists planted 40 olive trees in the threatened lands of the West Bank…
By Activestills March 16, 2015
The Ruweidi family outside their home in Silwan May 9, 2012 (Photo: Moriel Zecher-Rothman)
A rare win for E. Jerusalem family facing settler takeover
Israel’s Supreme Court ‘recommends’ that settler organization Elad and the JNF withdraw their petition to take control of the property. By Moriel Rothman-Zecher In the context of the absurd reality of Israel’s occupation, last Thursday brought a glimmer of good news. Attorneys for the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and settler group Elad withdrew their petition…
By +972 Magazine March 16, 2015
File photo of a Palestinian woman voting in Bethlehem. (Photo by Activestills.org)
The Israelis who are giving their votes to Palestinians
The ‘Real Democracy’ campaign provides a platform for those living under Israeli rule without voting rights to cast a ballot on Tuesday. In the last elections many Palestinians asked their Israeli proxies to boycott the ballot box; this time they are largely supporting the Joint List. Dozens of Israelis last week announced that they will…
By Haggai Matar March 16, 2015
PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a right-wing election rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Election preview: Netanyahu’s moment of truth
The Israeli prime minister called elections hoping to strengthen his coalition, but he underestimated the personal resentment many Israelis feel toward him. One shouldn’t, however, confuse the fierce competition for power with a battle over ideas: even if Labor wins, the end of the occupation is not around the corner. When Benjamin Netanyahu decided to…
By Noam Sheizaf March 16, 2015
Rapper Tamer Nafar performs during a cultural event in the unrecognized village of Dahmash on March 14, 2015. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
PHOTOS: Solidarity festival for unrecognized village in central Israel
Hundreds of people from across the country, including artists and politicians, converge in Dahmash for a show of solidarity with the unrecognized village whose fate will likely be determined by the High Court. It took us over an hour to find the cultural event in the unrecognized village Dahmash on Saturday. Aside from a dirt…
By Orly Noy March 16, 2015
A supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a right-wing rally in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, March 15, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
[VID] The Bibi circus rolls into town
‘Anyone who isn’t jumping is a leftie,’ chant the settler youths at a right-wing election rally in Tel Aviv, the site of a larger anti-Netanyahu rally a week earlier. Netanyahu the ringmaster is in control of his audience, and the rally itself has the quality of a victory parade. Video by Camilla Schick They came, they…
By Natasha Soffer-Roth March 16, 2015
Screenshot from 'Disregarding Gaza,' by Tamar Glezerman and Arianna LaPenne.
WATCH: Short doc looks for the Palestinians in Israeli elections
Why is Gaza not an issue in Israel’s elections? Filmmakers Tamar Glezerman and Arianna LaPenne speak with +972 bloggers to examine the mainstream media landscape, and its marginalization of the Palestinians, the occupation and the war in Gaza. Shot during Operation Protective Edge, this short documentary follows independent writers and photojournalists as they cover one…
By +972 Magazine March 15, 2015
Joint Lost leader Ayman Odeh on the campaign trail (photo: Courtesy)
How the Joint List has already made history in Israel
No matter what happens on election day, or what kind of coalition is formed afterwards, the Joint List’s very existence has already changed the face of Israeli history. The fact that the Joint List is likely to be the third largest slate in the next Knesset means they cannot be ignored. All the Israeli papers,…
By Mairav Zonszein March 15, 2015
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  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