Ben-Gvir, Israel's far right and Benjamin Netanyahu

This week, Israel woke up to a new reality after its fifth election in less than four years: Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to power. In a speech early Wednesday, Netanyahu said his Likud party was "on the verge of a great victory." He added that voters want to restore "national pride" and a government that projects "power, not weakness."

But the biggest winner in the election is the extremist far-right alliance and potential coalition partner, Religious Zionism. The alliance includes the ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, the pro-settler National Union party and the anti-LGBTQ Noam party.

On November 1, Religious Zionism secured 14 seats in the Knesset — as opposed to six in last year's election — and has thus become the third-largest party in Israel. Its extremist leaders will have more influence in parliament and are set to hold seats in the next government. 

It is expected that Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, will task Netanyahu with forming a government. Netanyahu has indicated that he will attempt to form a nationalist-religious government with two ultra-Orthodox parties and Religious Zionism.

'Being the landlords'

Israel's far right has to be seen in its own domestic context, analysts say. "They are more populist than the far-right European style," Tamar Hermann, senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), told DW. "They are conservative, they are nationalistic, they are religious."

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of Otzma Yehudit, is synonymous with the starry ascent of the far right in this election. The media-savvy lawyer and politician has rocketed from the fringes of Israeli politics to a position of curious dominance in the news. And in the weeks leading up to the election, his campaign attracted close media attention.

"I think that Ben-Gvir, his path, is leading Israel in the right direction. As he says, Israel is a Jewish state — I’m not talking about racism, I’m talking about him strengthening those beliefs among the entire people," Meir Cohen, a passerby, said on Wednesday.

On election night, Ben-Gvir was one of the first to give a victory speech at his party's campaign headquarters in Jerusalem. The crowd was mostly young, male, and religious, some chanting racist slogans. "The time has come for us to return to being the landlords of our country, which belongs to all of us," he addressed the cheering crowd.

Further divisions

The rise of the far right could divide the nation even more, especially after left-wing parties performed poorly. The small Meretz party did not make the electoral threshold required to enter the Knesset, and the once-ruling Labor party fell to a mere four seats.

"In the widest context, Israel joins a very infamous gallery of countries like Italy, Hungary," former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg told DW. "This is the combination of racial supremacy, nationalistic-centered policy and religious fundamentalism." Burg added: "Israel tries to define itself as Jewish and democratic. I would say it's the victory of the Jewish over the democratic."

Analysts estimate that about 10% of Israelis voted for this openly anti-Arab, homophobic alliance, among them many young voters. "It is a frightening moment for Israel's limited and fragile democracy," writes journalist Anshel Pfeffer in the liberal Ha'aretz newspaper. "If Netanyahu indeed has the seats to form a coalition government, he will be beholden to Ben-Gvir — and the far-right leader will have a long list of demands."

In Ma'ariv newspaper, the commentator Ben Caspit writes: "Netanyahu has never formed that kind of government. That wasn't Netanyahu's way." He adds: "Let's see what it does to our peace agreements. What it does to our international status. How it affects our quality of life, what it does to our democracy."

Israel's ascendant ultranationalists

Otzma Yehudit is considered the political heir to the Kach party, which was banned in 1994 after publicly supporting nationalist terror attacks on Palestinians. The party was started by the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who also founded the Jewish Defense League. Before Kahane was assassinated in 1990, both the United States and Israel had outlawed Kach as a terror organization. In 2019, then-party head Michael Ben-Ari was banned by the High Court from running for office over racist incitement.

Although Ben-Gvir and his fellow politicians from Religious Zionism have moderated their rhetoric in this election, their ideologies and often-racist propositions are well-documented. During the election campaign Bezalel Smotrich, head of Religious Zionism, presented a controversial plan to overhaul Israel's legal system, essentially curbing the High Court's ability to strike down legislation.

Ben-Gvir has said he wants to become national security minister. While stating in media interviews that he does not support Kahane's views, he is known for his prominent policy positions which include encouraging "disloyal" Arab citizens of Israel to emigrate, annexing the West Bank without affording Palestinians civil rights or the right to vote, imposing the death penalty on terrorists, and using live rounds against Palestinian protesters.

"They both (Smotrich and Ben-Gvir) differentiate between Arabs that, by their standards, comply with the Israeli Zionist Jewish agenda, and the Arabs whom they see as anti-Zionists, as supporters of terror, or of Hamas," said Hermann, from the IDI.

Exempted from IDF

Ben-Gvir was exempted from military service because of his extremist views. He was also once photographed in front of a framed photo of Baruch Goldstein that hung in the living room of his home in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, in the occupied West Bank. Goldstein, a member of Kach, murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque, or Cave of the Patriarchs, in 1994. He has since taken the photo down, Ben-Gvir told the media.

Equally infamous was his appearance on TV, in the early '90s as a radicalized youth. "We Israelis know him, we met him for the first time 27 years ago when he was inciting against the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated that year," Times of Israel journalist Tal Schneider told DW. 

At the time, Gvir stood in front of television cameras holding an emblem he had just ripped off of the official car of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's then prime minister. "Just as we got to his car, we can get to Rabin," he said. Several weeks later, Rabin, one of the architects of the Oslo peace accords, was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist.

Even though he himself has been indicted and convicted of incitement in the past, he continues to defend extremists as a practicing lawyer. Wherever he went during the election campaign, he was greeted by supporters who chanted: "Itamar Ben-Gvir for prime minister." A smiling Ben-Gvir usually answered: "I am only 46-years old. There is still time. Now, we want to form a right-wing, nationalist government."

The likely inclusion of members of Religious Zionism in the ruling coalition has created unease among allies and some liberal Jewish organizations abroad.  "Last night's election results are deeply troubling for all who care about Israel and about liberal democracy globally," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the lobby group J-Street, in a statement.

On the political level, it remains to be seen how countries will respond. "We hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society, including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly minority groups," said Ned Price, spokesman of the US State Department.

Edited by: Lucy James