Bezalel Smotrich

Daniella Weiss at the Nachala Hanukkah celebration, calling to resettle Gaza, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, Dec. 26, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Inside the Israeli movement to recolonize Gaza

Capitalizing on the Gaza war, Nachala has pushed to rectify what it sees as the 'historical injustice' of Israel's 2005 disengagement. If the ceasefire falters, the group is ready to pounce — with little standing in its way.

By Joshua Leifer February 11, 2025

Israeli youth attack journalists at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, during Jerusalem Day celebrations, June 5, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Chanting ‘burn Shu’afat’ and ‘flatten Gaza,’ masses attend Jerusalem Flag March

Israeli ministers joined the annual celebration of East Jerusalem’s conquest, where racist slogans and attacks on journalists have become mainstream.

By Oren Ziv June 6, 2024

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The ‘second Nakba’ government seizes its moment

Israeli leaders are explicit about reusing the methods of 1948 in Gaza today. But what didn’t quell the Palestinians then will not do so now.

By Meron Rapoport January 2, 2024

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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrives at a government conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Israeli public has embraced the Smotrich doctrine

The internalization of the far-right minister's 'Decisive Plan' is evident in the popular support for a new ultimatum for Gaza: emigration or annihilation.

By Orly Noy November 10, 2023

Right-wing Israelis attend a rally in support of the government's planned judicial overhaul, outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

The settlers wanted supreme power. They got a rebellion instead

The religious-Zionist movement has made vast inroads in Israeli state and society for two decades. The judicial overhaul may bring it all crashing down.

By Meron Rapoport August 15, 2023

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a discussion and vote on the state budget in the Knesset assembly hall, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans

As protests escalated last week over the judicial overhaul, Israel's finance minister declared the end of the Oslo Accords in all but name.

By Roni Pelli July 27, 2023

Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement set up tents near Kiryat Arba, with the intention to establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched

Seeking to double the settler population, Israel's far-right government is expediting infrastructural plans that were — often literally — laid decades ago.

By Ben Reiff July 12, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by members of his government, seen after a hearing and a vote on the state budget in the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Israeli government enters its most dangerous phase yet

While the judicial overhaul is widely seen as the central attack on democracy, it is paramount to show how it is directly linked to rising attacks on Palestinians.

By Haggai Matar June 3, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a vote in Knesset, Jerusalem, March 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Israeli right’s arrogance has made a new struggle possible

The mass protests have opened the possibility, however slight, that Israelis will begin to demand fundamental changes we haven't seen since 1948.

By Meron Rapoport March 29, 2023

Bezalel Smotrich, February 6, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The danger of treating Smotrich as an anomaly

By marking one Israeli politician as unacceptable, U.S. Jews are sidestepping the need to reckon with the wider system that enables his genocidal views.

By Edo Konrad March 9, 2023

Left-wing activists demonstrate in central Tel Aviv following Huwara pogrom, February 27, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

This government’s pyromania may be its downfall

Huwara on fire is exactly what leading Israeli ministers wanted. But with the protest movement taking note, the next phase of their plan is no guarantee.

By Meron Rapoport March 3, 2023

Far-right MK Itamar Ben-Gvir takes part in the 'flag march' in the city of Lydd, December 5, 2021. (Oren Ziv)

Israelis are calling their leaders fascists. Why can’t British politicians?

What will it take for British officials and other international actors to start taking Israeli leaders at their word and offer any meaningful pushback?

By Ben Reiff February 7, 2023

Thousands of Jewish students attend a ceremony marking the end of "Shnat Shmita", in the Israeli settlement of Efrat, in Gush Etzion, October 2, 2022. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Religious Zionists have captured the state. What will it mean for Palestinians?

Unlike Israeli Jews, who are opposing the government to protect the status quo, Palestinians across the Green Line are fighting a more existential danger.

By Ameer Makhoul January 22, 2023