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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Shas MK Aryeh Deri (Photo by Activstills.org)
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Although it is run by ultra-Orthodox men and its path for social mobility is anchored in religion, Shas remains the only truly socially minded political party and is certainly the only Mizrahi party. One voter’s search for answers. By Efrat Shani-Shitrit A few weeks ago, flyers targeting the women of north Tel Aviv were posted around…
By Haokets February 7, 2015
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Pre-election polls are a national sport in Israel, but they’re not very accurate. Now there’s a new player on the field, running a new polling project that claims to to have found the system’s flaws — and fixed them. A look at how polls affect voting patterns, which populations are traditionally under-represented and the mistakes…
By +972 Magazine February 6, 2015
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No Voice: Hopes for Israeli elections from those who cannot vote
Over 200,000 people with no legal status live in Israel today. There are another 4 million in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All of these people are directly affected by Israeli elections but they have not right to vote. This is what they have to say — about the Right and the Left, the…
By +972 Magazine February 6, 2015
The Israel-Palestine Lorde Diaries, chapter 7: Bus jammin’
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By Yuval Ben-Ami February 6, 2015
Hadash Chairman Ayman Odeh. Odeh was elected to first place in the united Arab slate. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Israeli election coverage: ‘Our Ahmad is named Ayman’
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By The Seventh Eye February 5, 2015
MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) marches along with thousands of people march through Jerusalem in support and solidarity with the Max Rayne “Hand in Hand” bilingual school, which was the target of a racist arson attack a week earlier, Jerusalem, December 5, 2014. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
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By Orly Noy February 5, 2015
Planting olive saplings in Kfar Yassuf, February 4, 2015. (Photo: Cindy Katz/RHR)
Knesset candidates plant olive trees with Palestinian farmers
Palestinian activists build new protest camp near Jerusalem to protest displacement of West Bank Bedouin, settlement expansion; the Israeli army dismantles the camp. Over 100 Israeli activists, among them four Knesset candidates in the upcoming elections, joined Palestinian farmers in from the West Bank village of Kfar Yassuf to plant olive saplings to mark the…
By Haggai Matar February 5, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress, May 24, 2011. (Photo by Avi Ohayun/GPO)
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Whether or not Israel faces consequences for his diplomatic strong-arming, the Israeli prime minister will have accomplished the only two things that matter to him: trying one last time to kill an Iran nuclear deal and convincing Israeli voters that he is the only one who knows how to ensure their survival. Israeli Prime Minister…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 4, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)
[Vid] Street Talk: Things are bad, but still voting Bibi
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By Social TV February 4, 2015
Shuhada Street in the Old City of Hebron, empty of all Palestinian vehicle and pedestrian traffic, November 13, 2013. Shuhada Street was the main commercial center of the city when it was first closed in 1994 to Palestinian traffic after the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, and later to pedestrians as the army shut down the entire commercial area. (Photo: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Israel’s president went to Hebron for all the wrong reasons
Instead of ignoring the Palestinian stores and homes whose doors the army welded shut, instead of ignoring the racist graffiti and segregation, President Rivlin had an opportunity to look occupation in the eyes. He didn’t. By Avner Gvaryahu A week ago, after it was announced that President Reuven Rivlin would visit the Beit Hadassah settlement in…
By +972 Magazine February 4, 2015
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  5. Eisenkot is trying to outflank Netanyahu on the right. It’s a failed strategy
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