The Uneasy Marriage Between Jewish Power and Religious Zionism

When, in the 1980s, the ultrareactionary rabbi Meir Kahane ran for the Knesset, observers considered his emergence to be a fringe phenomenon. After his party won a single seat in the 1984 elections, racist statements became a common feature of his four-year tenure in the Knesset; most notably, he continually insisted on the forced transfer of Arab Palestinians away from the territories controlled by Israel.

As a legislator, he attempted to introduce racial segregation laws, including, for example, establishing different beaches for Jews and non-Jews, and proscribing romantic and sexual relationships between Jews and non-Jews, which he hoped to make punishable by prison terms. So vile was his racism that even his fellow right-wing members of the Knesset ostracized him, including the ruling Likud party, who used to leave the Knesset chamber whenever he was giving speeches. In 1988, he was disqualified from standing for reelection by the Central Elections Committee on the grounds that his party platform constituted incitement for racism.

Having become a hotbed of violent settler activity, Kahane’s party and its successor organization were designated terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States and declared illegal in 1994. Kahanism survived on the outskirts of Israeli politics, as a marginalized tendency of a few fanatic zealots, never numbering more than a few hundred, and not wielding actual political power; to the media, they were more of a freak show than a serious political force.

But as the Israeli political establishment plunged into crisis — with five consecutive elections between 2019 and 2022 — Kahanism reentered the political arena. Ben-Gvir, who joined Kahane’s movement as a teenager, led his party, called Jewish Power, in two consecutive elections, in 2019 and 2020, winning no seats but proving to be a headache for the more mainstream right-wing parties.

His breakthrough came when he negotiated a deal with the Religious Zionist Party headed by Smotrich. This is the main political party that represents the interests of the West Bank settlers, espousing nationalist-conservative rhetoric, informed by deep racism, hostility to democratic norms and values, and messianic fantasies. The electoral pact between the two parties sprung Ben-Gvir out of marginality, as he won a single Knesset seat in the 2021 elections, being a candidate on the Religious Zionist slate.

As a very media savvy Member of Knesset, known for his provocative appearances, he soon became a favorite for news programs. One newspaper headline exclaimed that “The broadcast media is addicted to Itamar Ben-Gvir,” citing a statistic that in the last week of March 2022, although merely a backbencher in the Opposition, Ben-Gvir was the second most covered politician in radio and television, surpassed only by the then prime minister Naftali Bennett.

During the recent elections, Ben-Gvir capitalized on his growing personal popularity and renegotiated his electoral pact with the Religious Zionist Party with the aim of increasing representation for his Jewish Power party. It was a definite success: the slate doubled its percentage of votes, from winning seven seats in the 2021 elections (out of the total 120 Knesset seats) to winning fourteen in 2022, six of which fell to members of Jewish Power.

But now the balance has shifted in favor of Jewish Power, which has eclipsed the Religious Zionist Party. In a recent poll published by i24news, Ben-Gvir’s party is projected to win nine seats (a 50 percent increase on its current total), whereas Smotrich’s party is failing to reach the electoral threshold of 3.25 percent and win any seats. This means that Ben-Gvir’s decision to resign from the government following the deal places heavy political pressure on Smotrich: Will he hand the far-right voting base to Ben-Gvir, or will he stand up to Netanyahu and demand the resumption of the war?

Netanyahu’s Concession to Smotrich, Balancing Act With Trump

Following the resignation of Jewish Power from government, Netanyahu’s coalition can only count on a narrow sixty-three-seat majority in the Knesset. This is enough to pass legislation — most notably the annual budget, due to be approved in the next two months — but is susceptible to pressure exerted by parties, and sometimes even individual lawmakers, as Netanyahu needs the votes of every last one of them to govern.

While some commentators speculate that the end is near for Netanyahu, there are good reasons to believe he might prevent his coalition from unraveling. In a statement released by Smotrich explaining why his party did not withdraw from the government, he said that while they vehemently oppose the cease-fire, they “decided to stay in order to fix this folly and to return to fighting. We’ve created assurances in the cabinet that the war won’t end, under no terms, without first achieving its aims . . . [having] complete control over the Gaza Strip.”

The assurances Smotrich refers to are conditions he insisted on before the cabinet voted on the cease-fire deal. They concern the possibility of resuming fighting after the first phase of the deal, a demand reportedly accepted by Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister’s statement that day — which stated that Donald Trump had provided guarantees that if negotiations for the next phase of the agreement fail, and Hamas refuses to accept Israel’s security demands, Israel can resume full-scale military operations with US backing — can be seen as another concession needed to maintain the integrity of his coalition.

A real danger exists that Netanyahu — in order to preserve his power, and prevent losing his parliamentary majority and going to early elections — is working to create the conditions that will resume the fighting in early March, with US backing, allowing not only the Religious Zionist Party to remain in his coalition, but also paving the way for the return of Jewish Power.

This will require a balancing act with Trump, who wished to demonstrate he could dictate terms to the Israeli government in a way that Joe Biden refused to do. He has already told reporters he is “not confident” the cease-fire deal will reach its second and third phases, allowing a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Meanwhile, as a gesture to his far-right partners, Netanyahu scaled up the level of violence that the extremist settlers are allowed to inflict unhindered on Palestinian villages in the West Bank. Settlers have committed numerous attacks on Palestinians in the last few days. All of this creates ever more challenging conditions for the Israeli peace movement, which stresses that it must exert pressure from all sides to force Netanyahu’s government to abide by the will of the majority of people.

On the day that the deal was signed, members of pro-cease-fire organizations, including the author of this article, held demonstrations in the center of Jerusalem. Our aim was to bring together Jews and Palestinians in a demand for a permanent cease-fire, releasing all the hostages, and not stopping short of completing all the terms of the agreement. The war is not over yet, with suffering, insecurity, and injustice still casting a shadow over our daily lives. The coming period will be critical.