Knesset

Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen and other party members attend the party's Hebrew-langauge campaign launch event, ahead of the upcoming Israeli general elections, in Tel Aviv, October 5, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The battle for Jewish votes among Israel’s Palestinian parties

The Joint List and Ra’am could prove decisive in Israel's election. But they offer very different answers on how far to bend in pursuit of Jewish support.

By Amos Brison October 27, 2026

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

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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Aida Touma-Suleiman podcast graphic

PODCAST: ‘Israel is using organized crime to control Palestinian citizens’

MK Aida Touma-Suleiman reflects on a decade inside the Knesset, and the limits of trying to fight from within a system built to exclude Palestinians.

By +972 Magazine January 22, 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers at the Knesset, March 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Legislating apartheid: How Israel entrenched unequal rule during Gaza war

In a two-year blitz, Israeli lawmakers passed over 30 laws curtailing Palestinians' rights and punishing dissent, a new report shows.

By Orly Noy December 2, 2025

Democrats head Yair Golan, National Unity head Benny Gantz, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, and Yisrael Beyteinu party Avigdor Liberman hold a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s opposition is plotting a return to power. But it remains its own worst enemy

Despite a strong showing in the polls, Israel’s center-left camp is still in denial about its only trump card: joining forces with Palestinian-led parties.

By Joshua Leifer September 15, 2025

MK Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on violent crime in Israel's Arab society, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, January 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset vs Ayman Odeh

The move to impeach the MK, with the full backing of Jewish opposition lawmakers, sends a message to Palestinian citizens that voting is futile.

By Orly Noy July 2, 2025

Members of the Joint list are seen during celebrations in the headquarters of Joint List in the city of Nazareth, on the night of the Israeli general elections, March 17, 2015. (Akrm Drawshi/Activestills)

What can the Joint List teach us about building Palestinian political power?

Ten years after its formation, this experiment in Palestinian unity inside Israel — and its ultimate collapse — shows the need for carefully cultivated alliances.

By Rida Abu Rass May 23, 2025

Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike at a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Israel’s paradoxical crusade against UNRWA

Israeli officials are relying on UNRWA to prevent a polio epidemic — while the Knesset advances laws to expel the agency.

By Jonathan Adler October 10, 2024

MK Ayman Odeh attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 10, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Facing war and incitement, is there any hope left for Palestinians in the Knesset?

The Gaza war has revived a longstanding debate among Palestinian citizens of Israel about whether to participate in or boycott the parliament.

By Baker Zoubi June 6, 2024

Israeli police guard while Palestinians arrive to Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, at the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, October 13, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Israel’s ‘thought police’ law ramps up dangers for Palestinian social media users

Rights advocates warn the draconian law will enable unprecedented surveillance, raising Palestinian fears of arrest for their online activity.

By Sophia Goodfriend November 24, 2023

A high school principal arranges her classroom for the reopening of the school in Jerusalem, February 10 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Teachers or terrorists? Far-right MKs want the Shin Bet to police schools

A bill authorizing Israel's security service to hire and fire teachers, a policy long carried out in Arab schools, is so extreme that even the Shin Bet opposes it.

By Gil Gertel July 26, 2023

An Israeli protester sits in front of a fire during anti-government protests, Tel Aviv, July 20, 2023. (Oren Ziv)

PHOTOS: Anti-government protests escalate as Israel curbs judiciary

Israelis continued to take to the streets in their tens of thousands over the past week to protest the government's judicial overhaul.

By Oren Ziv July 24, 2023