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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Israel Prize winner and famed author Amos Oz. (photo: Michiel Hendryckx/CC BY 3.0)
The prestigious award that only goes to Ashkenazi men
While the prime minister’s attempt to intervene in the selection committee for the Israel Prize is clearly anti-democratic, so is the fact that the vast majority of its recipients look exactly the same. The uproar over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meddling in the nominations of three would-be judges for the prestigious Israel Prize selection committee caused many…
By Orly Noy February 13, 2015
Israeli police officers stand guard as the home of Hana al-Nakib and her four children is demolished, in the city of Lod, February 10, 2015. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Home demolitions: A reminder that the Nakba never ended
The destruction of Hanaa’ al-Naqib’s home in Lydd this week is a reminder that Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians didn’t end in 1948 — it has simply taken on new forms. We could hear the wailing all the way from the entrance to the besieged neighborhood. It was a heartbreaking sound. We quietly make our way…
By Rami Younis February 13, 2015
The United Nations Security Council, December 30, 2014. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
WATCH: How a new UNSC resolution could be a game-changer
Following a number of European parliaments’ recognition of Palestinian statehood, a number of public figures in Israel have launched a petition addressed to the UN Security Council, calling on it to set a date for ending the occupation. Former Israeli Ambassador Alon Liel explains why such a UN resolution could be a game-changer. Read the…
By Social TV February 12, 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)
The road to a fourth Netanyahu gov’t runs through Haneen Zoabi
The ‘Zionist Camp’ needs the Arab parties in order to form a government. Its decision to vote for disqualifying Zoabi makes that support less and less likely. The Central Elections Commission on Thursday disqualified MK Haneen Zoabi and candidate Baruch Marzel from running in Israel’s upcoming elections. The decision is not final without the approval…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 12, 2015
The Israel-Palestine Lorde Diaries, chapter 9: The Arab Lorde
 Two nights in Jerusalem bring many a new acquaintance, and make things seem so much simpler— or complicated. Click here to read the previous chapters of the ‘Israel-Palestine Lorde Diaries’ Winter was only getting more severe, which presented a dilemma. Being a poetry lover, I head south each year for a poetry festival held in the heart of…
By Yuval Ben-Ami February 12, 2015
Hadash chairman Ayman Odeh at a press conference, February 11, 2015. (Photo by Activestills.org)
Joint Arab List launches Hebrew campaign: ‘My answer to racism’
Jewish Israelis who value equality and want a ‘sane’ country should support the Arab-dominated list, says member Masud Ganaim at Tel Aviv launch event. The Arab Joint List launched its Hebrew-language campaign in central Tel Aviv Wednesday evening and unveiled its slogan: “My answer to racism.” Displayed behind the chairmen of the four parties on the list, the…
By Mairav Zonszein February 11, 2015
File photo of a Palestinian woman voting in Bethlehem. (Photo by Activestills.org)
Why I’m ‘giving’ my vote to a Palestinian in Israel’s elections
‘I very much want to vote for the party that best represents my ideological leanings; I’m waiving that right in these elections because so many others living under this government’s control can’t vote at all.’ By A. Daniel Roth Millions of people will go to the polls on March 17th to decide who will represent…
By +972 Magazine February 11, 2015
Kayla Mueller in Bil'in (Photo courtesy of ISM)
Bil’in activists remember Kayla Mueller, her time in Palestine
Palestinians residents and activists in Bil’in who hosted the American human rights activist recently killed by Da’esh (ISIS) remember her and her commitment to their struggle. ‘We will continue, like Kayla, to work against injustice wherever it is,’ Bil’in activists say. Mueller also volunteered with African refugees in Tel Aviv. By Samah Salaime Egbariya, with Haggai Matar…
By +972 Magazine February 11, 2015
A Palestinian public-sector worker holds part of his salary withdrawn from an ATM, Nablus, West Bank, February 9, 2015. (photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinian workers struggle as Israel seizes PA tax funds
Palestinian public-sector workers receive only partial salaries as Israel punishes the Abbas administration for its ICC bid by withholding tax funds it collects on the PA’s behalf. Text and photos by: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org Palestinian public-sector workers finally received part of their monthly salaries from banks in West Bank cities and towns on Monday. The Palestinian Authority…
By Activestills February 11, 2015
Dozens of police officers in riot gear outside the Naqib family home. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
WATCH: How many riot cops does it take to evict a single mother?
The Naqib family has lived on their land since before 1948. Many Palestinian families in the city live in what the State calls ‘illegal conditions’ — and under the constant threat of demolition — because they cannot attain building permits for their homes. Hundreds of police officers descended on the Al-Karm neighborhood of Lydd (“Lod”…
By Rami Younis February 10, 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
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
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  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
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