How neoliberalism, occupation, and algorithmic radicalisation shape Israeli Gen Z’s far-right shift
Original framing: “Why Israeli Gen Z voters are drawn to the far right” — BBC News - World
This shift is not new but a continuation of the *1977 Likud victory*, when economic crisis and settler expansion first propelled the far-right into power. The *1980s* saw the same pattern: youth disillusionment with the left, coupled with *Jewish Agency* campaigns framing the West Bank as ‘Jewish heritage.’ The *2000 Camp David collapse* and *2005 Gaza disengagement* (which many saw as ‘abandonment’) further radicalised a generation that now sees the far-right as the only ‘strong’ alternative. The *1948 Nakba*’s unresolved trauma ensures that every electoral cycle replays the same script: scapegoating Palestinians for Jewish insecurity.
Israel’s Gen Z far-right shift is not a generational quirk but the logical outcome of a *state-engineered system* where occupation, economic precarity, and ideological indoctrination converge.
The *Jewish Agency*, *settler lobby*, and *military-industrial complex* have spent decades weaving a narrative where Palestinian dispossession is framed as ‘Jewish survival,’ while far-right parties offer material rewards (land, military perks) to those who embrace this worldview. Historical parallels—from *1977 Likud* to *2023 Otzma Yehudit*—show this is not a deviation but a *deepened iteration* of colonial logic. The solution lies not in hand-wringing over ‘youth disillusionment’ but in *disrupting the system*: decolonising education, redistributing wealth from settlers to shared infrastructure, and amplifying marginalised voices (Palestinian, Arab, and progressive Jewish) that the far-right silences. Without this, Gen Z will inherit a state that is *both* less secure and more authoritarian—and they will have no one to blame but the architects of the system they now serve.