{"id":7957,"date":"2026-10-11T06:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T06:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7957"},"modified":"2026-10-11T06:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T06:01:23","slug":"how-genocidal-war-on-gaza-is-shaping-israels-election-israel-election-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7957","title":{"rendered":"How genocidal war on Gaza is shaping Israel\u2019s election | Israel Election 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As Israel entered the final month before its October 27 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a chilling warning to share.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s enemies, he said on September 29, were plotting an attack on the country before the vote. Without providing any evidence, he then quickly referred to continuing attacks by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, where he said they had killed more than 100 \u201cterrorists\u201d in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

That link drawn by Netanyahu \u2013 between the genocidal war on Gaza that began after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, the upcoming elections, and Israel\u2019s national security \u2013 was not coincidental, say analysts.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s insistence that he alone can secure Israelis from a range of threats they face from across the country\u2019s borders, they say, lies at the heart of his re-election campaign, even as his alleged failures during the attack three years ago and in securing the quick release of captives have offered his opponents ammunition.<\/p>\n

When a Flydubai flight<\/a> packed with Israeli passengers on their way from Dubai to Tel Aviv a day after his recent warning nearly crashed after a co-pilot attacked his pilot with an axe in the cockpit, Netanyahu was quick to seize on the incident<\/a> to argue that he is still man for the country\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n

Polls suggest that he faces a stiff test in what is the first general vote since the 2023 attacks, which led to the killing of 1,139 people in Israel and triggered the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where Israeli have attacks have since killed more than 74,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Three years later, the war has become inseparable from the domestic debate over Israel\u2019s direction while also accelerating a political shift to the right \u2013 with once-fringe positions on Palestinians now very much the mainstream view.<\/p>\n

Few embody this transformation more than Israel\u2019s far-right financial Minister Bezalel Smotrich, sanctioned<\/a> by a number of Western countries and known for his incendiary and racist language and policies towards Palestinians.<\/p>\n

In one of his characteristically inflammatory statements<\/a>, Smotrich told Israeli outlet Ynet late last month that the Israeli army should \u201cgo to war\u201d in the occupied West Bank and \u201cdo there what we did in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks later, Smotrich\u2019s electoral ally Moshe Feiglin added fuel to the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy is Gaza, not Hamas\u201d, he told the Jerusalem Post, calling for the annexation of the besieged territory after the election. \u201cThe baby that will be born tomorrow in Gaza will do exactly the same,\u201d he said, in reference to the 2023 attacks.<\/p>\n

Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Najar said these are not \u201cstray comments\u201d from marginal figures but an electoral message from power-seeking politicians aimed at portraying Palestinians as \u201cnot a people with rights, but a demographic and security problem to be expelled, conquered or destroyed\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe frightening reality is that the coming election risks becoming a competition not over whether Palestinian life should be protected, but over who can promise to erase it most aggressively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018This is madness\u2019<\/h2>\n

Following October 7, the younger generation in particular slid rightwards, said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow at King\u2019s College London.<\/p>\n

He said the forces driving Israel to the right had been gathering for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend toward the right began after the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but it has intensified dramatically since October 7,\u201d Bregman told Al Jazeera, referring to the bloody 19-day October War<\/a>, or the 1973 Arab-Israeli War \u2013 a conflict between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.<\/p>\n

More recently, the far right has been emboldened through electoral politics as part of Netanyahu\u2019s government since 2022 \u2013 the most right-wing government in Israeli history.<\/p>\n

Another outspoken cabinet member alongside Smotrich is Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a>, a far-right provocateur who has previously been convicted of inciting racism and of supporting a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNetanyahu\u2019s greatest mistake \u2013 among many \u2013 was bringing figures like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich into his coalition,\u201d said Bergman. \u201cBy doing so, he legitimised them as influential forces in Israeli politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir has been so cemented into Israel\u2019s political system, he has hopes pinned on becoming the next Israeli defence minister, the analyst pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is madness. But that\u2019s contemporary Israel,\u201d said Bergman.<\/p>\n

\"TEL
Attendees listen and applaud during an election campaign meeting on October 5, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel [Erik Marmor\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Analysts also pointed out that several parties running, including ones that are currently in power and a number that are challenging the current coalition, all advocate for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, as one of the examples of the shift to the right.<\/p>\n

Omar Baddar, director of Palthink for Strategic Studies, said the messaging from across the Israeli political and military spectrum in the lead-up to the election shows that there is \u201ca consensus\u201d to continue the attacks on Gaza, where nearly 1,500 have been killed since a \u201cceasefire\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re using the threats to get more votes,\u201d he said, pointing out to what he described as the radicalisation of the society.<\/p>\n

With the election approaching, added Baddar, Israeli leaders are seeking to undo one another: \u201cWho[ever]\u2019s more radical is more likely to get more votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Ehab Jabareen, a Palestinian political analyst and researcher from inside Israel, writes<\/a>, \u201cwhat it means to be \u2018right-wing\u2019 in Israel today is above all to take a harder line on Palestinian national claims, security and territorial control.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cOn security and the Palestinians, a large part of Jewish Israeli politics already works from assumptions that would have been treated as right-wing a generation ago: Deep suspicion of a sovereign Palestinian state, a high tolerance for prolonged military control, and a stronger insistence on Jewish sovereignty as the starting point rather than one value among others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observers and rights groups say the disparity is even evident in the electoral process. A prominent politician and Palestinian citizen of Israel, Sami Abu Shehadeh, has been forced to withdraw<\/a> from the election over his remarks about the Gaza war, while Israeli far-right leaders have remained untouched despite their violent rhetoric against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s security credentials endure<\/h2>\n

Recent polling indicates that the events of October 7 are top of mind for Israelis, who also have questions about who was responsible for the security failures of that day.<\/p>\n

Just last month, reports surfaced indicating that Netanyahu had received two separate warnings about an imminent Hamas attack<\/a> in 2023, from Egypt\u2019s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s two main rivals in the race for prime minister have cited the alleged warnings to call the prime minister \u201cunfit\u201d to remain at the helm of the country.<\/p>\n

But Netanyahu has denied suggestions that he had been forewarned about the attack, and\u00a0the reports do not appear to have had a significant effect on opinion polls.<\/p>\n

While October 7 represents a profound rupture in Israelis\u2019 sense of security, public trust in the Netanyahu government had already been badly shaken by its controversial judicial overhaul<\/a>, introduced when the prime minister\u2019s current coalition first came to power, said Mairav Zonszein, an Israel-Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Despite these breaches of trust, the Israeli leader retains support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraelis in general still see Netanyahu as kind of the guy on security. And more to the point, they don\u2019t really see an alternative,\u201d Zonszein told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

A June survey by Mitvim \u2013 the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies found that the Israeli public supports its government\u2019s military and security solutions, and rejects resolving the Palestinian issue and ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. This is the case even while it has been concerned about international isolation and the decline of Israel\u2019s international standing since the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza, the survey reported.<\/p>\n

Yet Israelis are also increasingly war-weary,<\/a> even as they back the use of more force. Its troops \u2013 stretched between six fronts of war in the last few years \u2013 are bearing the brunt of this fatigue in Israeli society.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that nearly 30,000 soldiers and security personnel are facing psychological trauma since the war.<\/p>\n

The ministry said its rehabilitation department\u2019s budget has increased by 88 percent over the past three years to 10 billion shekels ($3.3m), with the majority supporting treatment for mental health conditions and post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n

As Israel expands, the two-state solution fades<\/h2>\n

Still, Israel in recent months has been more and more vocal about its expansionist vision, with officials brazenly stating the goal of \u201cGreater Israel<\/a>\u201d. The claim for the conquest is based on a biblical verse (Genesis 15:18-21).<\/p>\n

For decades, Israel has ignored international law in its continuous occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land, and has shown little respect for its neighbours\u2019 sovereignty, occupying more land in Syria, as well as in Lebanon in more recent years.<\/p>\n

According to Najar, the political economist, the \u201ccomplete dehumanisation\u201d of Palestinians as evidenced during the campaign reveal that Gaza \u201cis being presented to Israeli voters not as a catastrophe or a crime for which there must be accountability, but as a blueprint to be repeated elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

In southern Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out near daily attacks and and has occupied large swathes of land, residents have told<\/a> Al Jazeera they expect little to change even if Netanyahu is defeated in the election.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s main political challenger, Gadi Eisenkot \u2013 head of the Yashar party and former army chief of staff \u2013 is the father of the so-called Dahiyeh Doctrine, and is just as hawkish about expansion. That doctrine, since Israel\u2019s war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah in 2006, calls for the use of huge force, even against civilian infrastructure, as a deterrent against enemies and was deployed in Israel\u2019s recent wars, particularly in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

If it were up to Eisenkot, the Lebanon front of war would have never scaled down: He has accused Netanyahu of bowing to US pressure to halt operations in Beirut, and has insisted that the military should be able to attack Hezbollah anywhere in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

For Israelis still reeling from the events of October 7, Eisenkot could fill the security void many are feeling, said Zonszein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really \u2026 see the world as kind of very hostile towards them, the world not understanding what they went through on October 7, and [therefore why] the need to have these security buffer zones in Lebanon, in Syria, and Gaza,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A two-state solution<\/a> to the Israel-Palestine conflict is therefore out of the question, said the analysts \u2013 and has not even made a blip of an appearance in campaigning before the election.<\/p>\n

The idea first emerged during the Oslo Accords more than 30 years ago, which set out a negotiating process aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, predicated on the belief that the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel was imperative to forge peace.<\/p>\n

But since the Oslo process began in 1993, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank has ballooned from about 260,000 to more than 700,000, embedded deep inside West Bank areas that would be needed for a contiguous Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept of a two-state solution is currently irrelevant and likely will remain so for another decade or two, if not longer,\u201d said Bergman. \u201cIt is unlikely to become a reality in the foreseeable future, as no Israeli leader can propose it to the Israeli public after the events of October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only way it could regain prominence is if there is substantial international pressure, including severe sanctions on Israel, and a non-violent intifada, or an uprising by Palestinians, he said.<\/p>\n

The outright rejection of Palestinian statehood has simply become much more \u201cacceptable\u201d, said Zonszein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s several parties who advocate these views, whereas there isn\u2019t a single Jewish Zionist Party that puts the need for a two-state solution or a Palestinian political process at the forefront,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Taken all together, Israel\u2019s election appears less a demand for change than a further entrenchment of the jingoism that surged after October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201c[There\u2019s] more and more movement towards more military force, more need for pushing the borders \u2026 out of a lot of fear that another October 7 could happen,\u201d said Zonszein.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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As Israel entered the final month before its October 27 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a chilling warning to share. Israel\u2019s enemies, he said on September 29, were plotting an attack on the country before the vote. Without providing any evidence, he then quickly referred to continuing attacks by Israeli troops in the Gaza…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t