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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Mohammad Mousa Abu Ghanam passes in front of one of his animal shelters which was demolished earlier in the day by the Israeli army, in the village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills, August 28, 2012
Is an anti-occupation revolt brewing in the British Jewish establishment?
Leader in top communal organization announces he is leaving post to speak out freely against Israeli policies — and gets standing ovation from membership. For many years I have felt that the only way to end the occupation is through outside pressure because Israel is just scorched earth politically, and will never do it on…
By Larry Derfner February 22, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of a portrait of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Netanyahu is not Ben-Gurion, and 2015 is not 1948
The Israeli prime minister is not using his Congress speech to gain votes in this election, rather, he is using his election campaign to gain favor for the Congress speech and serve his megalomaniac vision of being the savior of Jews worldwide. Netanyahu’s recent campaign video, released Saturday night, has nothing to do with the…
By Mairav Zonszein February 22, 2015
Labor leader Isaac Herzog, December 10, 2014. (Photo by Activestills.org)
Does Herzog have a chance at unseating Netanyahu?
While Herzog’s chances appear to be higher than they have been for most of the campaign season, he still faces an uphill battle to unseat Netanyahu in an election almost entirely devoid of debate on the issues. For one of the first times in the current election campaign, the centrist “Zionist Camp” actually has a…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 22, 2015
‘She just wants chocolate! What is she, an Arab?’
Israeli social media is talking about one thing today: the video showing Israeli passengers cursing and threatening a flight attendant on their way to Varna, Bulgaria. The headlines are pretty much the same all over, and include the words: “Watch: The Ugly Israeli,” in reference to what Israelis see as the rude behavior they are…
By Ami Kaufman February 22, 2015
Hadash chairman Ayman Odeh at a press conference, February 11, 2015. (Photo by Activestills.org)
Only Israel’s public TV gives equal coverage to Arab Joint List
Despite polling better in than mid-sized Jewish parties, the Israeli media is simply paying less attention to the Arab Joint List. By Oren Persico Israel’s public television, Channel 1, is devoting more time to reporting on the Joint Arab List running for Israel’s Knesset than the country’s other commercial television news channels, a survey of…
By The Seventh Eye February 21, 2015
Snow around the separation wall that surrounds the Shuafat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
PHOTOS: Snow on Jerusalem’s holy and unholy monuments
Snow blankets Jerusalem and the hilly West Bank late Thursday and Friday, shutting down roads and highways, covering holy sites and the separation wall alike. In Gaza, heavy rain causes flooding in the war-torn Strip.   Related: The storm that only affects Jews PHOTOS: Denied services, Palestinian residents form emergency response team
By Activestills February 21, 2015
An Israeli soldier escorts a group of settlers during a tour of Hebron’s old city, February 20, 2010. (Photo by Activestills.org)
How does the army please settlers? By upping its violence
When the settlers of Halamish complained that the IDF isn’t being violent enough, a brigadier-general assured them that he orders his troops to use unnecessary force against Palestinians.  By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz Near the Palestinian villages of Dir Nizam and Nabi Salah lies a settlement named Halamish, also known as Neve Tsuf.…
By +972 Magazine February 20, 2015
Israelis march during a protest calling for social justice, Hatikva neighborhood, south Tel Aviv, June 14, 2012. (photo: Activestills.org)
Israeli Black Panther: Mizrahim must boycott the elections
Since its establishment and until today, not a single election has fundamentally changed the status of Mizrahim in the ‘only democracy in the Middle East.’ Now we must use the only tool we have left at our disposal and refuse to participate in the game altogether.  By Reuven Abergel For Palestinian citizens of Israel, the upcoming…
By Haokets February 20, 2015
Joint List head Ayman Odeh speaks at the List's Arabic launch event, Nazareth. (Photo courtesy of the Joint List)
A glimmer of hope against incitement and racism
Jamal Zahalka promises that the Joint List will remain together for a long time, Dov Khenin tugs at our heart strings, the head of the Islamic Movement speaks of the men and women who make history, and Ayman Odeh, who heads the slate, calls on Arabs members of the Zionist parties to come back home.…
By Samah Salaime February 19, 2015
The Israel-Palestine Lorde Diaries, chapter 11: The lift
It’s cease or desist for the Lorde project, as Yuval gets a rare opportunity for a long nocturnal drive with a great musician. Part 11 of 15. For more, click here. We all packed up into a seven-seater Suburban: Mira Awad, three other actors and myself. Yigal Ezrati, Jaffa Theater’s director, was the driver. Clearly I…
By Yuval Ben-Ami February 19, 2015
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  2. 50 shades of right: An Israeli election primer
  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
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  4. Jewish Israelis must do more than stand together with Palestinians
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