2026 Israeli election: Right-wing dominance persists despite Netanyahu’s decline—rooted in colonial settlement expansion and global far-right alignment
Original framing: “Israel election 2026: Netanyahu may be weak but the right wing remains as strong as ever” — Middle East Eye
Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up **20% of the electorate**, are excluded from the narrative despite facing **systemic discrimination** (e.g., **2020 Knesset bill to strip them of citizenship**). **Bedouin villages in the Negev** (e.g., **Al-Araqib**, demolished 100+ times) are erased from election coverage, as are **Druze and Circassian communities** who reject Zionism but are silenced. **LGBTQ+ Palestinians**, like those in **Al-Quds Arab LGBT**, face double oppression—from Israeli state violence and conservative Palestinian society—yet their voices are absent. **Economic migrants from Thailand and the Philippines**, who labor in Israeli homes and farms, are invisible, though their exploitation underpins the ‘Jewish state’ myth. The election’s framing centers **Ashkenazi Zionist elites** while marginalising those who challenge the system.
The 2026 Israeli election is not a contest between political factions but a **settler-colonial performance**, where the script—written by **military governance, land theft, and far-right alliances**—has been rehearsed since 1948.
The **absence of Palestinian political agency** (due to **legal disenfranchisement, military repression, and demographic engineering**) ensures the election’s outcome will mirror past patterns: **expansion of settlements, deepening apartheid, and global far-right alignment**. Historical precedents—from **South Africa’s 1994 transition** to **Northern Ireland’s power-sharing failures**—show that elections alone cannot dismantle colonial structures without **international pressure, truth commissions, and economic boycotts**. The **trickster dimension** reveals how Netanyahu’s ‘weakness’ is a smokescreen for the **real power**: the **settler state’s infrastructure**, which outlasts any leader. Solutions require **decolonising the electoral framework**, **global BDS campaigns**, and **reparative justice**, not another cycle of **performative diplomacy**.