Israel’s 2026 Election: A Shift to the Right
Israel is heading to the polls on Tuesday in a closely contested election that is being described as one of the most important in its history.
By Jason Cooper ·
The vote is the first since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, as well as a wider conflict that has seen Israel carry out attacks on Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Qatar.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is seeking to extend his tenure after leading the country’s most right-wing governing coalition which brought together far-right ultranationalists and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
Wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in Gaza and faced with a long-running corruption trial, he is fighting for his political survival against a self-styled Zionist opposition bloc that has fundamentally embraced a right-wing approach to Israel’s challenges.
Questions over accountability for alleged security failures, disputes over ultra-Orthodox military service and efforts to exclude Arab-led parties dominated the campaign.
This has further dampened already low expectations that the vote would offer any meaningful improvement to the lives of Palestinians, as deadly attacks continue almost daily in Gaza despite a yearlong “ceasefire”, while settler pogroms and Israeli army raids have intensified in the occupied West Bank.
The entire Israeli political system operates within the racist framework of Jewish supremacy.
The horrifying reality we are witnessing is not simply the product of Netanyahu or the far right. It is rooted in Zionist political thought itself, which is structured around the principle of Jewish supremacy. There is no way around this fundamental fact.
The collapse of the peace process with the Palestinians and repeated security crises over the past few decades have combined to systematically erode the political centre and left, giving rise to landmark legislative milestones such as the 2018 Nation-State Law, which formally enshrined Jewish supremacy and the continued and violent expansion of illegal Israeli settlements into occupied Palestinian territory with little or no government restraint.
However, if the drift to the right was there beforehand, most analysts agree that its speed has accelerated to unprecedented heights under the latest Netanyahu government, which faced accusations of seeking to reshape the country in its own image
The decision facing Israel of whether to retain a Netanyahu-led government or not is ultimately the decision on whether to live in a functioning democracy or a democracy in name only.
Source: Al Jazeera
