‘There’s
a lot of racism, a lot of hatred’: Far right gains predicted as Israel heads to
the polls
Whether
or not Netanyahu can hold on to power, Israelis are expected to vote in a more
rightwing Knesset
Sun 18
Oct 2026 07.00 CEST
Four
decades ago, when the extremist rabbi Meir
Kahane won a single seat in Israel’s Knesset, other legislators passed a
law to prevent him running again, left the chamber when he rose to speak and
worked together to block discussion of his ethnonationalist proposals.
These
ranged from mass expulsions of Palestinians to apartheid provisions such as
segregated beaches and the criminalisation of sex between Jews and gentiles.
This
month, Kahane’s political heirs may claim more Knesset seats in national
elections than the remains of the once mighty Labor party, home of Yitzhak
Rabin, Shimon Peres and Golda Meir.
Rightwing
leader and rabbi Meir Kahane carried by supporters through the streets of
Jerusalem after he won a seat in the Israeli parliament in July 1984.
Photograph: AP
At an
election rally this week, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir,
mixed calls for ethnic cleansing and jokes about starving Palestinian prisoners
with a proud anecdote about his conviction
in 1998 over bumper stickers that read “Rabbi Kahane was right”.
A poll
for the Israel Hayom
newspaper, published on Friday, forecast his Jewish Strength party would win
nine seats in the 27 October election. The Democrats, successor to the Labor
party led by former general Yair Golan, were predicted to claim eight seats.
Ben-Gvir’s
rise is one of the more extreme manifestations of a broad shift to the right
among Jewish citizens of Israel. It is particularly pronounced among the young
and will shape the country’s next government, regardless of who becomes prime
minister after closely fought elections.
More than
500,000 Israelis have reached voting age since the last election in 2022, and
three-quarters of first-time Jewish voters define themselves as right or
centre-right, a recent poll for Channel 12 television found (it did
not survey Palestinian citizens of Israel).
Young
supporters of Itamar Ben-Gvir shout slogans as he tours a market during a meet
and greet in Ramla on 14 October. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
The
generation voting for the first time came of age after the Oslo process
collapsed, when the prospect of negotiating a political resolution to the
Israel-Palestine conflict seemed to be fading.
They were
teenagers during the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, which resulted in the
deaths of about 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians. Militants took
251 living hostages and dead bodies to Gaza, leading to a two-year hostage
crisis.
“There’s
a lot of people, especially young people, who think that there is no solving
the conflict, that we’ll always be at war. There’s a lot of racism, a lot of
hatred, but most of all, there’s fear,” said Erez Uzan, vice-chair of the Young
Democrats.
Bucking
global trends, young Israelis are more rightwing than older generations and are
likely to vote in a new Knesset with more rightwing
members than the current chamber, said Dahlia Scheindlin, a political
analyst and public opinion researcher.
Consistently
rightwing ultra-Orthodox and nationalist religious communities make up a
growing proportion of Israel’s Jewish population but still account for only
around a quarter of the electorate, so demographics alone do not explain the
growing age gap on political issues.
A mural
titled RUN by artist Alexsandro Palombo, depicting Israel’s prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, and politician Gadi Eisenkot wearing bulletproof vests and
carrying batons as they chase Bart Simpson, portrayed as a young Hamas fighter,
in Tel Aviv. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
“All
Israelis, and particularly younger people, have been living in a political
environment where not only is the government rightwing but the general terms of
debate are really populist and ultra-nationalist. That’s all they know. They’re
socialised into it,” Scheindlin said.
“There’s
been a real downplaying of anything to do with democracy, universal values or
human rights. Those are seen as weak, if they’re discussed at all, possibly as
bad as betrayal. And very few politicians talk about peace, concessions,
negotiations, Palestinian self-determination, or even Palestinian wellbeing.”
A
consistent majority of Israeli polls show prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
current coalition bloc with the ultra-Orthodox and the far right will fall well
below the threshold of 61 seats needed to form a government.
People
protest outside the Israeli high court in support of granting Arab parties the
right to run in the upcoming general elections. Photograph: Debbie
Hill/UPI/Shutterstock
The
opposition has a clear path to power through an alliance with parties
representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, known as Arab parties inside the
country. But the political shift right means most of the Jewish-led parties
have ruled out such a coalition, although similar promises have been broken
after past elections.
Particularly
when it comes to Palestine, most offer little challenge to Netanyahu’s claim
that security can only be pursued through military domination and annexation of
territory from Gaza to Syria and Lebanon.
The peace
deals that secured Israel’s borders with Jordan and Egypt, once seen as no less
an existential threat than Iran is today, do not feature in political debate as
an alternative path.
Their
campaigns focus on other issues, from promises to tackle corruption and bring
accountability for the 7 October attacks to improving schools and stopping
ultra-Orthodox draft dodging.
Gadi
Eisenkot, former Israeli army chief of staff and head of the Yashar party,
delivers a statement during a press conference at the Black Arrow memorial site
near the Mefalsim kibbutz, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, on 15 October.
Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
The man
leading the field to replace Netanyahu, Gadi
Eisenkot, is a former head of the Israeli military who formulated the notorious
Dahiya doctrine of using “disproportionate force” to cause damage and
destruction.
Naftali
Bennett is a former prime minister and former chair of the settler council, who
supports annexing much of the West Bank. Avigdor Lieberman wants to dismantle
the Palestinian Authority and replace it with an Israeli-Jordanian
confederation (though apparently he did not consult the Jordanians about this plan).
Former
Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the Together (Beyachad)
alliance, attends a ‘Democratic festival’ event in Ramat Hasharon on 13
October. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
No
Jewish-led party backed a future Palestinian state and only the Democrats
opposed settlement expansion, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported, after
seeking all parties’ positions on the future of the occupied West Bank.
Eisenkot’s
Yashar party pledged to strengthen and expand settlements, which are legal
under Israeli law. All settlements are illegal under international law.
The
Democrats, the only remaining political home for Israel’s Zionist left, are led
by Golan, a former general and deputy head of Israel’s military who personally
rushed to border communities under the Hamas attack on the morning of 7 October
to rescue civilians.
Young
Israelis gather to listen to the Democrats party leader and former Knesset
member, Yair Golan, at a campaign event in Tel Aviv. Photograph: Ilia
Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
Although
Golan supports a negotiated end to the conflict, he has avoided referencing a
two-state solution in this campaign. He has put together a policy platform that
would be solidly centrist in much of Europe. Yet even so, Israel’s political
shift to the right is so pronounced that the party’s campaigners have been
repeatedly attacked – physically and verbally – as a radical fringe.
Last
week, rightwing thugs assaulted
Democrats volunteers manning a stand at Jerusalem’s historic Mahane Yehuda
market, kicking, hitting and spitting at the group and stealing a phone while
police stood by and watched.
Democrats
protest against a visit by the Israeli finance minister and leader of the
Religious Zionist party Bezalel Smotrich to the Mahane Yehuda market on 9
October. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
The scale
of abuse prompted the party to train campaigners in non-violent direct action,
“so they know how to handle themselves in a situation where they can keep safe
and de-escalate,” said Uzan of the Young Democrats.
The far
right is on the rise globally, but Israeli politics that “revolve round
constant conflict” heighten the appeal of ethnonationalist messages, Uzan said.
“We grow
up in fear, seeing war all around us – and that leads to a certain perspective.
In the last 20 years, our leadership in the centre-left camp has avoided
talking about security issues,” Uzan said, adding they had ceded that ground to
the right.
Now he
and fellow campaigners are trying to tackle that failure at a grassroots level,
including speaking to young people about the peace agreements with Egypt and
Jordan that were unpopular when signed but have brought lasting stability.
The
process is slow but effective, he says, pointing to an active young membership
several thousand strong, well above parties who attract more young voters.
A man
with a flag wrapped around his shoulders featuring an image of Israel’s prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, walks through Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem
on 16 October. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
Comedian
turned activist Lior Schleien has been trying to have similar conversations
with groups of young Israelis about the deadly futility of pursuing “total
victory” in endless wars. He posts footage of some of the most shocking
exchanges, featuring smiling teens advocating on camera for the mass killing or
expulsion of Palestinians.
“Lots of
Arabs live here. They were born here, they are citizens like you and me. What
will you do with them?” Schleien asks one group.
“Kill
them … give me a knife and I’ll murder them,” says one young man.
Ben-Gvir
is particularly adept on social media, where posts like a recent AI video
laying out plans
for ethnic cleansing have helped build more engagement
with young voters than any Israeli politician except Netanyahu.
But he is
not an outlier for extremism among allies of the prime minister. Finance
minister Bezalel Smotrich is a messianic settler who recently called to
“wipe out Gaza”, and has vowed to “bury” a future Palestinian state.
People
walk past a bus with an election campaign banner for Moshe Feiglin of the Zehut
party in Jerusalem. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
For this
election, Smotrich has joined forces with Moshe Feiglin, a fundamentalist
who has long called for the mass expulsion of Palestinians and the
construction of a biblical Jewish temple where the al-Aqsa mosque compound now
stands.
The rise
of the far right and religious fundamentalism, combined with Netanyahu’s
assault on institutions protecting Israel’s partial democracy (Palestinians
living under Israeli military rule in the occupied West Bank do not have the
rights of citizens), mean many Israelis on the centre and left see this vote as
existential.
David
Harel, the president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, says the
country’s current path leads towards a bleak future as a corrupt, impoverished
pariah state, dominated by messianic fundamentalists maintaining a “violent,
cruel occupation”.
“We are
already in ‘stoppage time’. If we lose this time, there will be no second
chance. The country we love so dearly will breathe its last. Plain and simple!”
he told a rally in the northern city of Haifa.
“That is
why I have come here today, to ask and to implore. And if necessary, I will get
down on my knees and beg. Please, please, please! Just go out and vote!”
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