Kahanism

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

Photos: Emily Glick, Yonatan Sindel, Abed Rahim Khatib (Flash90)

A year in +972: Editors’ picks for 2025

From nearly 250 pieces published this year, we’ve chosen eight stories that resonated most with our team.

By +972 Magazine December 31, 2025

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

Latest

Right-wing activists attend a ceremony honoring late Jewish extremist leader Rabbi Meir Kahane in Jerusalem, Nov. 17, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

How Kahanism found its way into the Israeli political mainstream

Genocidal rhetoric is not new to Israeli politics. But Gaza's destruction mirrors the apocalyptic language pouring out of the Knesset — where the establishment has gradually absorbed members of a former terrorist group.

By Natasha Soffer-Roth May 14, 2025

People wear Israeli flags as they take part in celebrations marking Israel's 71st Independence Day in Jerusalem, May 8, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The sad truth behind Israeli ‘happiness’

How can a country that administers constant violence and suffers deep inequalities be ranked the fourth happiest in the world?

By Asaf Calderon April 17, 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

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir at the scene of a shooting attack in Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem, January 27, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Why Ben Gvir wants more guns on the streets

The Israeli far right sees widespread gun ownership as a means of enforcing racial supremacy — a lesson taken straight out of the American playbook.

By Nate Orbach February 1, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Otzma Yehudit party head Itamar Ben Gvir during a Knesset session to vote on forming the government, December 29, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Land grabs. Homophobia. Radicalized police: What to expect from Israel’s far-right government

The new coalition is set to deepen colonization on both sides of the Green Line, while expanding its tools to oppress Palestinians, leftists, and LGBTQ people.

By Natasha Soffer-Roth December 29, 2022

Head of the Otzma Yehudit party MK Itamar Ben Gvir arrives to the opening session of the 25th Knesset in Jerusalem, November 15, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Ben Gvir’s dream ministry brings Kahane’s vision one step closer

With the portfolio he’s craved, the far-right lawmaker can accelerate Israel’s colonial violence against Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line.

By Natasha Soffer-Roth November 30, 2022

Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Jewish settlement of Beit Orot near the neighborhood of At-Tur, occupied East Jerusalem, October 13, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The generals are the supremacists of the past. Ben Gvir is the supremacist of now

The Kahanist lawmaker offers a ‘democratized’ version of supremacy: taking power from the old elites and handing it to the marginalized Jewish masses.

By Orly Noy November 3, 2022

Young Orthodox Israelis wave flags during the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, May 15, 2021. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

The radicalizing rebellion of Israel’s Haredi youth

Once staunch anti-Zionists, Haredi parties have become ensconced in the Israeli right. Now, a generation of disenfranchised Haredi youth is defying its elders and seeking meaning in the most extreme forms of supremacism.

By Pnina Pfeuffer October 31, 2022

MK Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, and activists protest in support of the deportation of asylum seekers in southern Tel Aviv, October 12, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

In the war on African asylum seekers, Ben Gvir finds a hero’s welcome

Left-wing activists confronted the Kahanist lawmaker's visit to south Tel Aviv, but his supremacism appears to be mobilizing a growing base in the city.

By Ben Reiff October 17, 2022

MK Itamar Ben Gvir seen during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Kahanism’s triumphant makeover

Itamar Ben Gvir, the star of Israel’s most far-right party, is thriving off of a national political discourse that allows him to accomplish what his predecessors could not: bringing Kahanism to the mainstream.

By Noam Sheizaf October 3, 2022