Itamar Ben Gvir

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 October 23, 2026

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

In the nine years since the MK’s ‘Decisive Plan,’ Israeli liberals acceded to the religious right’s maximalism — while claiming to oppose ‘messianic’ violence.

By Avi-ram Tzoreff October 20, 2026

Far-right lawmakers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir in the assembly hall of the Knesset, Jerusalem, December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel’s far right has unprecedented power. Why isn’t it satisfied?

Having realized many of its once-unthinkable ambitions, the right remains frustrated by what it still can’t achieve — and demands even more violence.

By Meron Rapoport October 12, 2026

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Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh virtually joins a Central Elections Committee hearing on a request to disqualify him from the upcoming elections, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, September 23, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Palestinian MKs in Israel have long faced election bans. This time is different

From Ben Gvir to the Democrats, Israeli politicians have called to disqualify the Balad party chair — and the Supreme Court may no longer serve as a backstop.

By Samah Watad September 30, 2026

Right-wing Israeli activists gather near the Gaza perimeter fence, during the "March of the Thousands," July 19, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

Nearly half of Israel’s government joins march vowing Gaza settlements

Thousands of right-wing activists walked through a closed military zone to the Gaza fence, singing genocidal anthems as soldiers handed out bottled water.

By Oren Ziv July 20, 2026

Israeli right-wing activists celebrate Jerusalem Day at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 14, 2026. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

At Jerusalem’s Flag March, Ben Gvir’s Israel was on full display

On a rampage through the Old City, Jewish supremacists celebrated the occupation with racist chants — as settlers put their words into action.

By Oren Ziv and Charlotte Ritz-Jack May 15, 2026

A public execution in Fayyam Square, Shiraz, November 21, 2018. (Students' News Agency)

What Israelis can learn from the nightmares of an Iranian hangman

As Israel embraces the death penalty, government ministers can look to what they call the ‘Iranian terror regime’ for inspiration — and caution.

By Orly Noy April 9, 2026

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during the vote to pass the death penalty law in the Knesset, in Jerusalem, March 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘They already shoot us for no reason. Now they have a death penalty’

Under Israel's new law, only Palestinians will face capital punishment. Up next is a tribunal to execute those convicted of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.

By Jared Hillel March 31, 2026

Israeli forces stand guard as Palestinians pass through the Qalandia checkpoint on their way to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, February 20, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Israel warns of a Ramadan escalation — while doing everything to provoke one

Eroding the status quo at Al-Aqsa, backing settler pogroms, ignoring violent crime: If there is an eruption, it will have been engineered by Israel alone.

By Baker Zoubi February 24, 2026

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen with security forces during a tour of the Bedouin village of Tarabin Al-Sana, southern Israel, December 31, 2025. (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90)

Israel is ‘restoring governance’ to the Negev — by terrorizing Palestinians

With the pretext of a stolen horse, police have turned the Bedouin village of Tarabin Al-Sana into a war zone. A fatal shooting was only a matter of time.

By Oren Ziv January 9, 2026

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits a prison in central Israel, where suspected Hamas and Hezbollah militants are held, January 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Why the death penalty would cement the Israeli radical right’s ascendancy

A bill to legalize the execution of Palestinians represents an effort to institutionalize revenge and erase all remaining limits on state violence.

By Ron Dudai November 26, 2025

Former Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen and right-wing activists stage a counter demonstration while Palestinian students and activists protest against the Israeli army operation in Jenin, at Tel Aviv University, January 30, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

On Israeli campuses, the state marks another enemy within

As the occupation's mechanisms of control seep into the civilian sphere, Jewish dissidents are next in line — and academic freedom offers no protection.

By Yael Berda November 21, 2025

Naftali Bennett poses for pictures with supporters while awaiting the arrival of Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage freed from Hamas captivity, outside David’s home in Kfar Saba, October 26, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Naftali Bennett wants to be Israel’s next PM. First stop: incite against Bedouins

By taking aim at Palestinian communities in Israel's south, Bennett proves he offers little change from the most racist figures in the current government.

By Samah Salaime November 13, 2025