Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research has published a new study titled “Jewish Power Hopes to Lead the Populist and Extremist Right,” written by Dr. Mohanad Mustafa, a research fellow at the organization. This is the first study in a special dossier titled “Israel’s 2026 Elections,” published as part of the organization’s Israel Studies series.
The study, also published in Arabic, highlights the electoral gains made by the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party in the 2022 Knesset elections, when it won six seats as part of the Religious Zionism list. This success encouraged the party’s leader, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to run independently in the 2026 Knesset elections. His decision builds on the party’s growing popularity since October 7, 2023, propelled by its explicitly hateful rhetoric against Palestinians in general and Palestinians in Israel in particular. The party has also benefited from Ben-Gvir’s support for violent policies against Palestinians during his tenure as Minister of National Security.
The study examines the political rise of the Jewish Power party alongside the personal ascension of Itamar Ben-Gvir in the context of past and upcoming Knesset election cycles. It concludes that their growing popularity can be attributed to an appeal to deep-seated anti-Palestinian prejudice among extremist Jewish groups within Israel, who view Palestinians’ individual or collective achievements as a challenge to Jewish supremacy. In other words, Ben-Gvir has combined a growing sense of marginalization among certain Jewish communities in Israel—who have increasingly directed their grievances toward Palestinians—with Kahanism, which supplies the ideological framework needed to turn explicit racism into a populist political platform.
To read the paper in English, click here.
To read the paper in Arabic, click here.
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