elections

MK Ahmad Tibi reacts during a discussion and a vote on The vote on the "Flag Bill" in the Knesset, Jerusalem, June 1, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

The Israeli right is planning to ban Palestinian parties. Here’s how

If the Netanyahu government secures a forever majority, it will bolster the argument that an apartheid regime reigns between the river and the sea.

By Sawsan Zaher March 23, 2023

Newly elected head of the Israeli Labour party, Avi Gabbay, with outgoing Chairman Isaac Herzog. (Miriam Alster/ FLASH90)

Pandering to the Right is a losing strategy for Labor

Israel’s Labor Party must decide what it stands for before the next round of elections. Without a true vision for the country, there’s really no reason it should win. Avi Gabbay, the new head of Israel’s Labor Party, appears to be plotting a master strategy for winning elections, with laser-razor precision. A largely unknown candidate,…

By Dahlia Scheindlin November 16, 2017

An Israeli votes in the 2015 election, March 17, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israelis don’t get to hold a referendum on Palestine

A recent poll found that if there were a Brexit-style referendum over whether to maintain Israeli control over the West Bank, most Israelis would choose ‘remain.’ But is that up to Israelis to decide? If there were a referendum in Israel about whether to “leave” the West Bank — while holding onto most of the settlements…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 6, 2016

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Benjamin Netanyahu gives a victory speech on election night, March 18, 2015. (Photo: +972 Magazine)

‘The Jews are heading to the polls in droves’

It turns out that one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s most notoriously divisive statements in recent years reflects, almost identically, an anti-Semitic election slogan exposed and decried by none other than the founding father of right-wing Zionism, Jabotinsky. By Gilad Halpern Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founding father of the Zionist right and forebear of Likud, has been…

By +972 Magazine May 10, 2016

Balad head MK Jamal Zahalka (left) and Ta'al head MK Ahmad Tibi, February 11, 2014. (Photo by Activestills.org)

The domino effect of persecuting Arab politicians

The government’s latest attempts to oust Balad from the Knesset are part of an intensifying campaign against Arab political movements, regardless of their different stripes. Three months ago, when the Israeli government outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Palestinian citizens of Israel feared that they were witnessing the beginning of an intensified campaign…

By Amjad Iraqi February 14, 2016

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)

Netanyahu’s race-baiting was long-planned, not a ‘lapse in judgement’

The prime minister’s Election Day warning that ‘Arabs are coming out in droves to the polls’ was the culmination of months of focus groups and a clear-eyed strategy from Likud operatives, a new Channel 2 report reveals. By Mitchell Plitnick Controversial comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about heavy voter turnout in Israel’s Arab sector…

By +972 Magazine January 27, 2016

A Palestinian youth jumps to avoid a water canon during clashes with the Israeli army at the weekly protest against the occupation, Kafr Qaddum, West Bank, March 13, 2015. Locals began to organize demonstrations in July 2011 to protest the blocking of the main road linking Kafr Qaddum to Nablus. (photo: Activestills.org)

The Month in Photos: Gaza, elections, and Land Day

Palestinians mark Land Day across Israel and the West Bank, politics take center stage in Israel, laid off workers take to the streets, a number of social and political struggles intensify, Gaza struggles to recover from last summer’s devastating war, and Palestinians and Israelis continue popular resistance against the occupation.

By Activestills April 3, 2015

Zionist Camp supporters listen to exit poll results, Tel Aviv, March 17, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Beyond Netanyahu: On the collapse of the so-called Left

Many in the Israeli Left saw the recent election defeat as a danger to democracy. But if the Left wants to win elections, it needs to let go of its anti-Mizrahi fear-mongering and racism. by Elad Ben Elul (translated by Joshua Tartakovsky) In order to understand the outcome of the recent elections in Israel, one…

By Haokets March 27, 2015

An Israeli votes in the 2015 election, March 17, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israelis elected a non-democracy

Obama must understand that these elections were more than just a referendum on Netanyahu — they were a referendum on Israel’s character, and Israelis did not vote for democratic ideals. Many on the center-left in Israel are still trying to wrap their head around Netanyahu’s victory. They simply cannot grasp that most Israelis really want…

By Mairav Zonszein March 22, 2015

Netanyahu (Yotam Ronen / Activestills)

Netanyahu’s fourth gov’t: The good, the bad and the ugly

The next Israeli government will attempt to preserve the status quo in the West Bank and Gaza at all costs. Facing international backlash, the persecution of leftists and Arabs could rise to dangerous levels. It’s quite clear what the fourth Netanyahu government will look like: A coalition of the Likud’s “natural partners.” These are the…

By Noam Sheizaf March 20, 2015

Naftali Bennett in his 'Tel Aviv hipster' campaign ad. (Screenshot)

How the ‘selfie campaign’ failed Israeli voters

Digital media has dictated the agenda of this election campaign. The parties flooded the web with funny videos, hoping to go viral. Media strategists know how to make their audience laugh, but they failed to establish a meaningful discourse with the electorate. By Angela Gruber Noy Alooshe is a sought-after man these days. His Youtube…

By +972 Magazine March 17, 2015

A campaign billboard for Netanyahu’s Likud switches to a billboard for Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Camp. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The silent majority of complacency: Israel’s right-wing voters

They’re not overtly racist, violent or angry. They’re not worried by the prospect of another intifada or war. They’re not singing about the economy, but they’re not crying either. More than anything, they see no alternative to Netanyahu. They’re the right-wing mainstream.

By Larry Derfner March 14, 2015

Majda Bashir with three of her children, stand in the classroom where she stays with her family in the UNRWA al Mazra'a preparatory girls school, in the city of Deir al-Balah, eastern Gaza Strip, November 7, 2014. According to Majda, her family does not receive any food aid because the government was late to register the destruction of their home, preventing them to get on the list of beneficiaries. Several of her children suffer from malnutrition. Around 1,400 displaced Palestinians live in the school in very precarious conditions. Anne Paq/Activestills.org

WATCH: Bringing Gaza’s voices to Israeli voters

Elections are often imagined as a celebration of democracy. But what about those who have no vote to give? WATCH: Wake-up Call: 47 years of disenfranchisement

By Social TV March 12, 2015