Otzma LeYisrael

Yair Lapid (photo: Yotam Ronen / Activestills.org)

The ethnic vote and the ‘white coalition’: 7 takeaways from Israel’s elections

Netanyahu is most likely to form his next government around the religious and the secular middle class, represented by election victors Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. The coalition will concentrate on domestic reform and will only strengthen the status quo on the Palestinian issue. Also: Did Israelis really move left? Seven takeaways from the elections.…

By Noam Sheizaf January 23, 2013

Final Israeli elections poll: Netanyahu’s bloc with a clear majority

The last polls ahead of Tuesday’s election have been published. Netanyahu’s Likud-Beitenu joint ticket could lose as many as eight seats, but the right-wing coalition he is projected to lead is still strong. Meretz is trending up, while Livni is losing support. We have updated out Poll Tracker with the surveys published over the weekend.…

By Noam Sheizaf January 19, 2013

WATCH: Ultra-right Israeli MKs mock Arabs in Arabic campaign video

This has got to be one of the more disgusting videos I’ve seen. The Otzma LeYisrael party, headed by ultra-right wing MKs Aryeh Eldad and Kahanist Michael Ben-Ari have posted their first campaign video to be shown on Israeli TV on YouTube (according to Ben-Ari’s Facebook page). The televised election campaigns kick off Tuesday night,…

By Ami Kaufman January 7, 2013

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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (photo: Yotam Ronen / Activestills.org)

Putting together Netanyahu’s next coalition might be trickier than it seems

Netanyahu will continue to serve as prime minister after the upcoming elections, but putting together a governing coalition will have significant long-term implications. The headline result of the upcoming elections in Israel, as Noam Sheizaf has thoroughly documented, is not in doubt. Benjamin Netanyahu will continue as Israel’s prime minister for another term, and will…

By Roi Maor December 27, 2012

Gush Emunim leaders and supporters celebrating the Government's decision to allow the first Jewish settlement in the Samaria region, 1974. Carried at the center is former MK Chanan Porat (photo: Moshe Milner / Government Press Office)

+972’s Person of the Year: The Settler

The settlement movement registered major victories this year on various fronts. Its representatives are reaching new heights in politics, the judiciary and the media. One out of five residents east of the Green Line is a settler. The expansion of settlements continues unabated, and – most importantly – settlers are in full control of the…

By +972 Magazine December 26, 2012

Knesset polls: Likud slightly down, settler parties gaining momentum

Two new election polls came out yesterday, both telling roughly the same story: the Likud-Beitenu party is losing some voters to the National Religious Party and to Otzma Le’Israel, an extreme faction led by former Kahane man Michael Ben-Ari. Both parties are identified with the settler movement (though settlers are well represented in Likud as well). According…

By Noam Sheizaf December 19, 2012

Baruch Marzel (L) and Aryeh Eldad in Um al-Fahm in 2009 (Activestills)

Far-right party’s campaign ad banned for racism: Just the tip of the iceberg

If a campaign ad inciting against Arab citizens of Israel is deemed illegitimate, then why not the party responsible for it, or any of the myriad Knesset members who have also engaged in similar forms of incitement as well, whether against Africans, Palestinians, the LGBT community or Israeli leftists? Israel’s Central Election Committee disqualified an ad…

By Mairav Zonszein December 16, 2012