‘Generation Right’: Israeli youth show strong support for the right

Meanwhile, the first Israeli elections in four years have brought with them a record number of first-time voters – most of whom are keen to create their voices count.

Key points

• Although Ben-Gvir did not pass the threshold of the 2020 elections, he was given a central position in the 2022 administration of Netanyahu.
• The Israeli Central Elections Committee notes more than half a million voters were went on to the roll since the last elections in 2022.
• Now the title "Generation Right" is being applied to reference Israel's Jewish youth – though not the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
• From a sizeable field in southern Israel, 18-year-old Amihai was wearing a shirt with far-right minister Ben-Gvir's photo.
• Around three quarters of Jewish first-time voters polled identified as "right or centre-right", according to a recent poll for Israel's Channel 12.

But while youth worldwide are leaning to the left, young adults in Israel are heading in the opposite direction, according to recent polls.

Notably, the Israeli Central Elections Committee notes more than half a million voters were went on to the roll since the last elections in 2022. They are aged between 18 and 22 and polls show that 80 percent of them plan to vote in the October 27 legislative election.

Although their political activism and engagement in the public sphere are limited, a survey by the think tank, Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), discovered that a majority of young Jewish Israelis feel that the ballot box can influence reality and shape their country's future. But what does the future they hope for look like?

Around three quarters of Jewish first-time voters polled identified as "right or centre-right", according to a recent poll for Israel's Channel 12. That's significantly higher than the rest of the Israeli population. It has already been shifting to the right for years.

Meanwhile, the first Israeli elections since the October 7, 2023 attack are contentious and polarising – and they will be decisive for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political survival and his right-wing approach.

Critics of the longest-serving PM in Israel's history accuse him of supporting "far-right" politicians to stay in power. They say that his handing of key administration positions to extreme politicians such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich assisted empower those camps and create their policies mainstream.

In 2017, Smotrich laid out his position for the future of Israel where the Israelis are the only ones who will have self-determination, whereas Palestinians will have to emigrate, stay without political representation, or be treated as "terrorists" if they refuse either of the two options. In 2022 he secured a portfolio in the defence ministry where he facilitates land grabs and empowers the illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank. Indeed, this incitement and view of Palestinians has become more prevalent.

In practice, a recent video published by the Israeli satirist Lior Schleien demonstrates a young man saying he would kill Arabs in Israel.

Schleien, a left-wing activist, has been visiting schools and speaking with young individuals often before their army service. His videos are giving Israelis, and the world, a chance to understand the younger generation.

In the video, Schleien asks the student how he proposes to kill Arabs. The answer: "Give me a knife and I will do it."

Schleien asks whether October 7 changed his views. "I've always been racist, " the young man answers, adding that Arabs shouldn't be allowed to live in the state of Israel. Even though the young man's face is slightly covered, shielding his identity, Schleien removed the video after a public backlash.

In another town hall session, Schleien addresses the question of whether there are innocent residents in Gaza. When asked if Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, Schleien denies it, only for a female student to ask, "Do you think it should be done?"

Schleien looks unimpressed, but the student assures him that she is asking a serious question. Her friend, next to her, chuckles. Speaking the language of the youth.

At a recent session of young supporters of the left-leaning Democrats party in Tel Aviv, 18-year-old Gili informed the AFP news agency that she believed Israeli society had abandoned the idea of peace.

She remarked the scars of October 7 instilled fear among residents, making it hard for them to believe peace could ever be achievable.

While the October 7 attack may have accelerated the country's push to the right and far-right, plenty of say Israeli society has been heading this way for years.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth demonstrates more than 16 percent of new voters plan to cast their ballot for far-right parties.

From a sizeable field in southern Israel, 18-year-old Amihai was wearing a shirt with far-right minister Ben-Gvir's photo. The event he was attending pressed the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory.

Talking to other young activists from a place overlooking the destroyed parts of the Gaza Strip, Amihai remarked he aims to vote for Otzma Yehudit, a party led by Ben-Gvir. This person himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

In the years since, the minister seems to have learned to speak the language of Israel's youth. Despite having been convicted of supporting "terror" organisations as well as other criminal offences, Israeli surveys show that a chunk of his potential supporters in this election are first-time voters.

Ben-Gvir has additionally produced sure to employ his position to lobby for his "I am not mincing my words" policies.

As a minister, he often visits Israeli jails and detention centres to threaten Palestinian prisoners as well as international activists – all the while making sure that it is caught on camera.

His videos often go viral, a move that has earned him more youth backing – and not just from his usual base of settlers, such as the violent "Hilltop Youth", some of whose members have been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the IDI survey discovered that social media and messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram are key sources of information – often exposing young residents to political content through their feeds rather than through active searching. It is a language Ben-Gvir understands.

Taken together, the developments around 'Generation Right': Israeli youth show strong support for the right point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.