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
Latest
A Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus hands out flowers cars passing through the Huwwara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, during a protest against Israeli occupation, January 1, 2015. One protester was arrested during the action. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
‘A year with no checkpoints’: Handing out flowers in the West Bank
In one of the first Palestinian protests of 2015, demonstrators call for 2015 to be the year of no occupation and no checkpoints. Dozens of Palestinian and international activists, some dressed as Santa Claus, protested at the Huwwara checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank on the first day of 2015. Some of the demonstrators…
By Activestills January 3, 2015
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 U.S. convoy near West Bank outpost
Settlers from the West Bank outpost of Adei Ad threw rocks at a U.S. Consulate convoy carrying American diplomats on Friday afternoon. The convoy was hit upon arriving at a nearby Palestinian village to examine olive groves that were uprooted a day prior. According to Ynet, American security personnel drew their M16 rifles as settlers…
By Edo Konrad January 2, 2015
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses released Palestinian prisoners at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 31, 2013. (Activestills.org)
Palestine’s ICC bid is only as threatening as Israel makes it
Instead of reviling Palestinian accession to the International Criminal Court as an effort to delegitimize and isolate it, Israel would be better off focusing inward. By Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man One of the more ironic aspects of Israeli opposition to Palestinian accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is its deep involvement in…
By +972 Magazine January 2, 2015
Women from the West Bank town of Bethlehem march past Palestinian Authority policemen during a protest against honor killings and other forms of violence against women, November 16, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
New name for an old crime: Police get creative with ‘honor killings’
Israeli police, it seems, have finally learned not to use the infuriating term ‘honor killings’ to describe the murder of Arab women. Unfortunately, their replacement is far worse. The good news is that the police arrested suspects in the murder of Bisan Abu Ghanem, and that authorities have apparently learned not to stop calling such…
By Samah Salaime January 2, 2015
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the UNGA during the general debate, September 26, 2014. (UN Photo/Amanda Voisard)
Why Israelis should welcome Palestine’s ICC bid
All Israeli citizens who hold human rights and democratic values dear should not only support Palestine’s bid to join the International Criminal Court, they should be disheartened by their own government’s response. Dr. Ishai Menuchin These days the government of Israel is once again warning the Palestinian Authority not to join the International Criminal Court…
By +972 Magazine January 1, 2015
The representative of Palestine speaks to the UN Security Council. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
The world’s obligation to end the occupation
Israeli-Palestinian relations do not solely belong to Israel. The international community has a right and an obligation to intervene. By Ilan Baruch Right-wing propagandists have been quick to take credit for the outcome of the UN Security Council vote on Tuesday, which rejected the Palestinians’ resolution to unilaterally end the occupation, rather than through negotiations.…
By +972 Magazine January 1, 2015
Palestinian laborers at the Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint separating the West Bank and Israel, December 22, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
On heels of small victory, tragedy strikes in overcrowded checkpoint
Concessions in response to workers protest of overcrowding were short-lived, Palestinians say. A 38-year-old Palestinian laborer dies in Israel’s Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint in the West Bank. A Palestinian man died at the Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint Wednesday, just a week after Palestinian laborers there staged a strike to protest overcrowding and poor treatment from guards. Ahmad Samih Abdir,…
By Haggai Matar January 1, 2015
The United Nations Security Council, December 30, 2014. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
Security Council’s election message to Israelis: Keep ignoring the occupation
Israel and Washington together blocked a UN Security Council resolution calling for the implementation of a negotiated two-state solution within a year. Abbas’s diplomatic efforts have hit a brick wall. The Israeli government came out with the upper hand yesterday at the United Nations Security Council: a joint effort by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S.…
By Noam Sheizaf December 31, 2014
Family and friends of Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Fraenkel, three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and killed in the West Bank, take part in their funeral in the city of Modi’in, Israel, Tuesday, July 1, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Beyond Gaza: Runners-up for 2014’s ‘Story of the Year’
The Gaza war was a clear choice for +972’s selection as story of the year (read it here). But the other nominated stories need to be told, too. +972 bloggers explain why they made their nominations. From the kidnappings to a new paradigm for Jewish-Arab relations to a growing opposition among U.S. Jews. The kidnap-murder…
By +972 Magazine December 31, 2014
Illustrative photo by Shutterstock.com
Whither liberal Zionism & other phenomena: My list of notable 2014 articles
So you read every single article in +972 this year? That’s great. Honestly, we thank you. But that’s not enough for Lisa Goldman. A comprehensive list of must-read articles you probably missed this year, covering everything from slavery reparations to Gaza to the crisis of liberal Zionism on the Upper West Side. The other night…
By Lisa Goldman December 31, 2014
Most Read
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. Eisenkot is trying to outflank Netanyahu on the right. It’s a failed strategy
  3. 50 shades of right: An Israeli election primer
  4. Israel's election won't change the renewed reality of political apartheid
  5. Jewish Israelis must do more than stand together with Palestinians
  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. Why ‘NAZA’ terrifies Israel's liberal elite
  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