How Ben Gvir and Smotrich helped drive historic Arab voter turnout
Israel’s far right brought national politics into every Arab home. On election day, Palestinian citizens proved that fear and despair need not mean silence.
By Baker Zoubi
October 28, 2026
For weeks, polls have been predicting a surge in Arab voter turnout compared to previous Israeli elections, perhaps reaching as high as 70 percent. Yesterday’s results blew those predictions out of the water, with early estimates suggesting turnout was around 80 percent — the highest among Palestinian citizens of Israel in decades, and above the national average.
With final votes still being counted, the two Arab parties — the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am) — are projected to achieve a combined 18–19 out of the Knesset’s 120 seats, surpassing their previous record of 15 in 2020. In every sense, yesterday was a historic day for Palestinian politics in Israel.
Exit polls and expert analyses were not necessary to prove it. You only had to stand outside polling stations in Arab communities, as I did all day, and remember what the same places had looked like during previous elections.
Continue reading at https://www.972mag.com/israel-election-far-right-palestinian-voter-turnout/
Israel’s elections: all roads lead to genocide
Analysts say Israel’s two main political blocs uphold ethnic cleansing policies against Palestinians and people of the region, while differences between them are only related to internal affairs.
By Aseel Saleh
October 28 2026
sraelis headed to voting centers on Tuesday, October 27, in legislative elections to choose the members of the parliament, known as the Knesset.
The event marks Israel’s first general election since the October 7 attacks, which Netanyahu’s government expanded into a multi-front regional war.
Who is competing in the elections?
For many, these elections serve as a direct referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right bloc he heads.
The Pro-Netanyahu Bloc
This bloc comprises the National Liberal Party (Likud) led by Netanyahu, the Religious Zionist Party (HaTzionut HaDatit) led by current Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Jewish Power Party (Otzma Yehudit) led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The coalition advocates for the consolidation of Israeli rule throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, explicitly rejects the possibility of Palestinian statehood, promotes the expansion of settlements and the implementation of hardline security measures against Palestinians. It also calls for disavowing the Oslo Accords, and the total disarmament of Hamas.
Continue reading at breakthroughnews.org
Netanyahu isn’t acting like he won the election. Here’s what that could mean
By claiming the election was ‘stolen,’ Netanyahu could be setting himself up for success in a repeat vote. But he might also recognize his days of majority government are ending
Oct 30, 2026
In the two days since Israelis cast ballots, there’s been a yawning gap between the results and the way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is talking about them.
The final vote tally, while inconclusive, indicates that barring drastic change, Netanyahu will stay in power indefinitely. Nobody has a clear path to a coalition, so the incumbent remains, possibly through multiple rounds of elections. And after the wars, catastrophe and domestic strife of the past four years, Netanyahu could reasonably count that as a victory.
Except that Netanyahu isn’t acting like a victor. Yes, he crowed that his party was the largest, but as he himself knows well, that doesn’t guarantee another term. He spent much of his election night speech militating against a Jewish-Arab opposition government — recognition that his opponents, however fractious, have the majority.
Continue reading at www.timesofisrael.com
Netanyahu claims Palestinians ‘stole’ elections as Qatar slams ‘ridiculous and dangerous’ allegations
Likud alleges foreign interference in apparent attempt to discredit Palestinian-led parties as Qatar rejects claims of funding efforts to boost voter turnout
Oct 29, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has claimed Israel’s election was “stolen” by Palestinian citizens after their record turnout and electoral gains, even as election officials and opposition politicians dismissed the allegation as “baseless”.
In a statement on Thursday, Likud warned of an attempted “Islamisation of Israel” following a Shin Bet investigation into alleged foreign interference in the vote.
Israeli politicians and media outlets aligned with the government have accused Qatar of funding efforts to boost turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu’s son, Yair, echoed the allegations on X, claiming Qatar, Turkey and other Arab states had stolen the election.
Qatar rejected the accusations, calling them “ridiculous and dangerous”.
Continue reading at www.middleeasteye.net
Israel: The Countdown to Armageddon
Israel’s apocalyptic struggle for power
By Alexander Dugin
Oct 30, 2026
What is happening in Israel right now is of enormous, perhaps decisive, significance for all humanity. Netanyahu is going all in on the construction of Greater Israel. This is a purely messianic, eschatological policy rooted in the Kabbalistic theory of the Victorious Messiah (ben David), who appears after the coming of the Suffering Messiah (ben Joseph). The tragic capital of suffering accumulated through the Shoah is being spent on power, grandeur, and terror. This course has received the support of Trump, and therefore of the United States, transforming it into something of global significance. Its most extreme manifestations have been openly articulated by Rabbi Dov Lior and the Israeli politicians Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich: the outright genocide of the Palestinians and their complete expulsion from Israel, the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the construction of the Third Temple, expansion from sea to sea, the imposition of Noahide law on obedient gentiles, as well as the coming of the Mashiach [Messiah] and His subsequent proclamation as King of the Jews and Lord of the World. Hence the destruction of Gaza, the occupation of southern Lebanon, the invasion of Syria, and the war against Iran. These are not plans but facts.
Continue reading at www.multipolarpress.com
The public in Israel decided: no more
October 28, 2026
Even before the exit poll results were published, it seemed that the citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, had decided to stage a mass demonstration, unseen for decades, to determine their fate. The term “fate” is not a figure of speech.
This election was not merely about settling the agonizing score with a malicious government that turned most of its citizens into its enemies. The coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abandoned the Israeli people, betrayed its mission to protect them, and left them to their own devices. This election was the most important in the state’s history because a real sword hung over the necks of Israeli citizens.
It was not just the threat of a new war against Iran or the launching of new offensives to save the withered skin of a leader who had gone off the rails and dragged the country with him. For many citizens, the question was whether they could even continue to live in this country, a country that had been pulled out from under their feet at a terrible cost over the past three years.
Continue reading at www.defenddemocracy.press
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