Israel’s Rising Far-Right Can Thank the Youth Vote

Jewish supremacy appears to have scored a major victory in Tuesday’s Israeli elections.

First round exit polls show the Religious Zionism bloc garnering 14 or 15 mandates in the country’s 120-seat parliament, which would make it the third largest party in the Knesset. Regardless of whether Benjamin Netanyahu claws his way back to power (which appears to be a real possibility) or Israel heads toward another election in spring 2023, the hard-right looms as a permanent fixture on Israel’s political landscape.

Just hours before the polls closed, Jerusalem youth proudly bore the message of “To be a Jew in our land” and “It’s time for Ben-Gvir”, as they marched through the city’s Mahane Yehudah market. For younger voters, Itamar Ben-Gvir’s authenticity matters.

Ben-Gvir, Religious Zionism’s neo-Kahanist leader, stands to accomplish what his hero, Meir Kahane—the slain extremist rabbi who was banned from Israeli politics in 1988—never achieved. The younger extremist firebrand will earn full acceptance into Israel’s halls of power. “If we get a lot of mandates, we will have the legitimacy to demand significant portfolios, such as the defense and the treasury,” Bezalel Smotrich, Ben-Gvir’s party comrade declared.(On Sunday, Ben-Gvir made his own bid for public security minister.)

This Extremist Could Destroy Israel as We Know It

The likely return of Trump’s pal Netanyahu, together with his ascendant far-right bloc, signals a coming collision between Israel and the U.S.’ political forces.

Where support for Israel was once a bipartisan (almost rubber-stamp) reality in Congress, the Democratic Party’s multi-cultural, multi-racial base is increasingly skeptical of walking in lockstep with Israel. And a ruling coalition that places a premium on God and Country, “the people,” and the land is only going to remind the American left of Trump, MAGA, and the “blood and soil” neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville in 2017.

Like taxes, abortion, and crime, Israel is now firmly enshrined as one more flashpoint in America’s cold civil war.

Sen. Bob Menendez—a senior Democrat, chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, and longtime Israel ally—has already expressed alarm over the rise of Israel’s far-right. And if someone like him is voicing concern, more left-leaning members like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren—as well as the Squad of House progressives—can’t be far behind.

All this stands to hurt Israel, the Democrats, and America’s Jews. At the same time, the potential for friction stands a potential boon to Republicans.

It permits them to embrace Israel, but stay mum over white supremacy and antisemitism from the right. Ben-Gvir provides new license for the Party of Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene to keep on partying with Ye (née Kanye West) and bashing George Soros. Support for Israel becomes dispensation for Republican Jew-baiting at home.

Bibi Is on the Brink of a Shocking Comeback in Israel’s Election

“I think he’ll be fine,” Trump said of Ye—whose career has imploded as a result of his voicing deranged antisemitic conspiracy theories. “You know, he’s a very different kind of a guy.”

Last Saturday the wife of Doug Mastriano, the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee, invoked support of Israel as a shield against charges of antisemitism. She told reporters that her family loved Israel “more than a lot of Jews do.” When Jared Kushner can’t be your son-in-law, the Promised Land makes a fine prop.

To be sure, this drama has been years in the making. In 2015, Netanyahu warned that Israel’s Arabs—who are Israeli citizens—were voting “in droves.” To many, including then-President Barack Obama, Bibi’s campaign pitch must have sounded like, “OMG, blacks are voting, how dare they?” Set against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s march in Selma, Netanyahu rightfully earned Obama’s ire.

“Israeli democracy has been premised on everybody in the country being treated equally and fairly,” Obama advised The Huffington Post. “If that is lost, then I think that not only does it give ammunition to folks who don’t believe in a Jewish state, but it also I think starts to erode the meaning of democracy in the country.”

These days, liberal democracy is having a rough time in both countries. The GOP buys into Trumpian election denialism, refuses to disavow the Jan. 6 insurrection, and strives to restrict ballot access. Meanwhile in Israel, Ben-Gvir and his allies are looking to further limit the impact of Israeli Arabs in politics and society.

And unlike in America, younger Israelis are generally more conservative than their elders.

Israel’s Got Major Problems, but It’s Not an Apartheid State

The collapse of the Oslo Accords morphed into the second Intifada. Disengagement from the Gaza Strip by Ariel Sharon, Israel’s late prime minister, failed to bring quiet. Instead, rockets launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad periodically rain down on Israel, sending citizens into bomb shelters. At the same time, the Palestinian leadership has shown little interest in extending anything that approaches an enticing olive branch.

This is the environment the Israeli youth grew up in. Now they vote.

And as a likely consequence, a more right-wing Israel will lead to increased numbers of younger American Jews distancing themselves from the Zionist experiment.

By the numbers, 71 percent of American Jews classify themselves as Democrats. Younger U.S. Jews are also more ethnically diverse. According to Pew, “more Jews say it is important for future grandchildren to share their political convictions and to carry on their family name than to marry someone who is Jewish.”

Politics is the new religion. At this pace, Biden may be the last pro-Israel Democratic president.

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