It’s just that To record the names at once: Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Parliamentarian Ben Gvir was a supporter of Meir Kahane, who led the far-right Kach party until it was banned in Israel and placed on the US international terrorism list in 1994. He supported the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein who killed 29 Palestinians praying in Hebron earlier. This year, until recently, the killer’s picture was on the wall.

In 2006, Ben Gvir was convicted of supporting a terrorist organization and inciting racism. In recent years, he has been charged with disorderly conduct, violence and illegal demonstrations about 50 times. He leads the Jewish Power Party.

Elite is better than their reputation

Bin Juffair, who also campaigned extensively for the release of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s killer, Yigal Amir, used to refer to Palestinians in general as terrorists and say that they should all be deported from Israel. During the election campaign, he moderated a little and said it was only about “those who are not loyal to the State of Israel.” Other than that, the death penalty for “terrorists” and the impunity of Israeli soldiers accused of war crimes are among his election promises.

Bezalel Smotrich The family lives in a house outside the Jewish settlement of Kedumim in the West Bank.

He is a lawyer, but sometimes it goes against the law. In 2005, he spent three weeks in prison after a demonstration. The following year, he led protests against a pride march in Jerusalem. He also played an important role in the struggle to liberalize Israeli legislation related to the confiscation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionist Party, wants religious laws from Torah Judaism in the Israeli legal system. Ben Gvir and Smotrich together formed the Religious Zionist (RZ) Alliance, which has picked up pace in the polls. If expectations come true, the coalition could get half a million votes and win about 14 seats in the Knesset. This would make it the third largest of the group.

next to progress For RZ, the Israeli elections are marked by the fact that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of corruption has once again succeeded in re-establishing himself in Israeli politics. And while he managed to train trials against him, the coalition government formed in March 2021 disintegrated in June of this year. New elections were the only way out. Without condemning Netanyahu, as leader of the Likud party, he was ready to run for re-election.

For lack of alliance partners That could guarantee Netanyahu a majority, switched earlier this fall to the RZ. Although it has not been confirmed, most indications are that a horse deal has been struck and, to say the least, ugly: Racist politicians will be given a place in government in exchange for their vote on a bill that makes it difficult to investigate politicians for corruption.

Since April 2019 Four elections took place in Israel. In March 2021, Netanyahu’s Likud party lost to a right-wing coalition that also had the support of the virtually eliminated center and left and the Arab Joint List. The government was doomed, but it lasted 15 months.

Before tomorrow’s elections, according to opinion polls, there will be an impasse between the former coalition on the one hand and Netanyahu and his supporters on the other. Much depends on the country’s Palestinian voters. The United Arab List, which participated in the last government, has become history, and therefore many Palestinian parties are fighting for the electorate. A few thousand votes can be decisive.

Many Israelis are afraid An electoral victory for Netanyahu and his partners, both in domestic politics and in foreign policy. In the United States, many Democrats have made it clear what they think.

There is a concern away from the traditional right:

Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, writes that Ben Gvir is a “danger to the State of Israel” and describes him as an Israeli version of the white supremacist in the United States and a European fascist.

The Israel Times wrote that Ben Gvir is going “further than the European parties on the far right.”

Well-known commentator Gideon Levy in the liberal newspaper Haaretz is extremely pessimistic:

– The political situation in Israel now is so chaotic that it would not surprise me if I held a sixth election in a short period of time, he wrote.