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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Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Activestills.org)
Pundits’ consensus: Netanyahu is vulnerable
Are we nearing the end of King Bibi’s reign? Much of that depends on his allies, his rivals and the determination of international actors to address the disastrous trends on the ground. In 2009 and 2013 it was easy to call who the next prime minister would be a month before the polls opened in Israel.…
By Noam Sheizaf December 7, 2014
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Activestills.org)
‘Anyone but Bibi’ isn’t the point: Pre-election postulations
It is naive for the Israeli peace camp to think that deposing Netanyahu will bring about peace or even get us closer. Now that early elections are almost certainly going to be held on March 17, rumors have begun spreading like wildfire about the myriad possibilities of parties teaming up and the various frontrunners who…
By Mairav Zonszein December 7, 2014
Naftali Bennett speaks to a young Israeli. (photo: Naftali Bennett's official Facebook page)
The trauma and tragedy of Israel’s vocational education system
Across the board, the achievements of vocational school graduates are significantly lower than those of non-vocational high school graduates. What is needed is equality. Nothing more, nothing less. By Yossi Dahan (Translated from Hebrew by Alan Horowitz) Before surrendering to the vision of Stef Wertheimer, Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Education Shay Piron and the vocational…
By Haokets December 6, 2014
Palestinian farmers sow their lands located behind a settlers' by-bass road, at Salem village, Nablus, West Bank, December 05, 2014. Photo by: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org
PHOTOS: In West Bank village, Palestinian farmers go against the grain
For the first time in 14 years the farmers of Salem decided to reach their agricultural lands without permission from Israeli authorities. It wasn’t long, however, before Israeli settlers and soldiers came to disturb their work.  Text and Photos: Ahmad al-Bazz / Activestills.org Every December, just after they have finished tilling their soil, Palestinian farmers…
By Activestills December 6, 2014
Moshe Kahlon is likely to be a front-runner in the upcoming elections. (Activestills.org)
Moshe Kahlon for prime minister of Israel
I’m planning to vote for Meretz, but if Kahlon has a chance on election day of beating Netanyahu, I’ll vote for him. I was talking a couple of days ago about the upcoming elections with a friend from work, a middle-class, American-born Ashkenazi immigrant with a Ph. D. in political science. He told me he…
By Larry Derfner December 6, 2014
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)
PHOTOS: Following arson, thousands march with integrated J’lem school
Two first-grade classrooms were targeted by arsonists who left racist graffiti at one of the country’s only mixed Jewish-Arab schools. Roughly 2,000 people — students, teachers and parents from “Hand in “Hand” schools from across Israel — marched through the streets of Jerusalem Friday morning to the Max Rayne bilingual school, which was the target…
By Activestills December 5, 2014
A Druze soldier in the IDF guards a mobile power station, May 13, 1949. (Photo by GPO/Zultan Kluger)
[WATCH] The Druze in Israel: Appropriating identity (part 3)
According to the mainstream Israeli narrative the Druze population in Israel is loyal to and maintains an alliance with the state, the most famous element of which includes mandatory military service. But is that really the whole story? The third part of this series looks at Druze identity and its variations: from Palestinian to Israeli.…
By Social TV December 5, 2014
Illustrative photo of a concert (Photo by Shutterstock.com)
When music becomes a place of subjugation
If we who consider ourselves to be ‘peacemakers’ cannot identify the power dynamics within our own programs and events, then what we are doing at the end of the day does more harm than good for peace, justice, and those most marginalized in this relationship: Palestinians. By B.G. Silver* In our ever-growing jungle of protracted…
By +972 Magazine December 5, 2014
The Beaten Path: Seeking refuge in Eilat (part 9)
Israel was borne of a need to escape a violent Europe. Now Israelis feel a constant need to escape a violent Israel. The deconstructed tourist trail reaches the deepest south, which is where they often go. Part nine of Yuval Ben-Ami’s journey through the Holy Land’s most popular tourist sites. Off the Sinai smuggling routes, there’s…
By Yuval Ben-Ami December 4, 2014
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) addresses the Council. He is flanked by Héctor Marcos Timerman (left), Minister for Foreign Affairs of Argentina; and Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia and President of the Council for November. (photo: UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz)
Time for international community to hold Israel accountable — here’s how
Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not impossible, but success requires bold measures and the courage to see them through. Following more than two decades of peace talks, the international community should give the law a chance. By Hiba Husseini and Omar M. Dajani The international community must not stand idly by as Israelis and Palestinians…
By +972 Magazine December 4, 2014
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  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. Israel's election won't change the renewed reality of political apartheid
  4. 50 shades of right: An Israeli election primer
  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