NEW FROM FMEP
Solidarity Work in the Face of Settler Terror in the West Bank (New Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay of Rabbis for a Ceasefire and Oriel Eisner of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. They talk about the activists who join with Palestinians in the West Bank, especially now during the olive harvest, looking at the difference in the framing of “protective presence” versus solidarity work. They discuss the nature of Israel settler violence and its impact on Palestinian livelihoods and look at the possible role of sanctions in producing a different future in Palestine/Israel.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up October 30, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters & Reports; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
GLOBAL/REGION
The Gaza Ceasefire That Quieted the World (Yousef Munayyer//Arab Center DC 10/28/26)
“One year after President Donald Trump secured a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, Israel continues to kill Palestinians on a near daily basis, while the international demand to stop this violence has waned. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has reported that, as of October 22, 2026, Israeli forces have killed 1,538 Palestinians and injured 5,498 since the ceasefire was signed. The deal may have been heralded as an end to the conflict, but in reality, it simply redirected global pressure to end the violence against Palestinians in Gaza…This diminished attention also accompanied a shift in the discussion about Gaza itself. Prior to the ceasefire, the key political question was about how to end Israel’s assault and stop the massive bloodshed and destruction that had characterized the previous two years of the war. After the ceasefire, the significantly diminished international discussion on Gaza began to focus on the implementation of the agreement and aid delivery mechanisms. While these are critical issues, they obscure the more fundamental fact that Palestinians are still being subjected to the horrific conditions that the ceasefire was supposed to remedy. The ceasefire agreement effectively transformed demands for action to stop the violence into a technical agenda for managing Gaza’s destruction.” See also Israeli Strikes in Gaza Killed 21 People This Week, Health Ministry Says (Haaretz 10/29/26)
Israel Has Committed Genocidal Acts in Gaza Since Cease-Fire, U.N. Human Rights Panel Says (NYT 10/26/26)
“A commission of United Nations human rights experts said on Monday that Israel was committing genocidal acts against Palestinian civilians in Gaza despite a cease-fire agreement there and carrying out crimes against humanity in the West Bank. The report by the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry, which comes on the eve of Israel’s first general election since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, is meant to look at the drivers of violence by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the panel said. It said that Israel was deliberately targeting Palestinian children and was using torture, rape and sexual violence as part of a broader attack aimed at displacing and subjugating the Palestinian population. Israel immediately rejected the claims.”
A year after the ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza, this is what our lives look like: no privacy, no peace (Akram Al-Sourani//The Guardian 10/27/26)
“Every morning, I look at myself and my neighbours standing in the queue for water, and remember how each of us once had a life of our own, our privacy, our own toothbrush, our own home and our own bathroom. How we used to wash our faces and drink clean water without ever imagining that a day would come when these simple routines would become a battle with ourselves and with every drop of water. Even standing beneath a hot shower has become a dream postponed until further notice. A year has passed since the announcement of the “ceasefire” in Gaza, yet the spectre of war, bombardment and death has never left our lives…Every morning, the same question follows me: what will happen today? Will my children return from what remains of their school to what remains of our home, having walked along what remains of a street, when bombardment could take them from me at any moment?..In Gaza, waking up alive is not enough. You must also make sure that the place where you slept is still somewhere you can spend the following night. You must hope that your children can dream of an ordinary day – one in which obtaining a loaf of bread, an education or medical treatment is not an achievement worthy of celebration. It is as though the ceasefire never happened. The sounds of bombardment, explosions and surveillance drones have continued to accompany our days and nights. What remains of our homes and tents trembles – and so do our hearts.” See also Report: Israeli Drone Strike Wounds 14 at Southern Gaza Phone-Charging Station (Haaretz 10/30/26)
Former Biden Official With AIPAC Ties Tapped for Trump’s ‘Corrupt, Anti-Palestinian’ Board of Peace (Common Dreams 10/26/26)
“As President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, the organization that is tasked with overseeing a peace plan in Gaza, looks to boost its bipartisan appeal ahead of the midterm elections, in which Democrats could take control of one if not both chambers of Congress, the board announced Monday that it had appointed a former Biden administration official to help smooth the effort. Shelley Greenspan, who served in the State Department and then as the White House liaison to the Jewish community for two years under President Joe Biden, was selected to lead external affairs, including outreach to members of Congress and think tanks in Washington, DC. Greenspan has previously worked for Amazon in global innovation policy, for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, and as a legislative manager for the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)…Greenspan has promoted Trump’s 20-point peace plan as one that could bring “practical results” to Palestinians in Gaza.”
GAZA
Netanyahu reportedly pressured military to attack Iran in run-up to election (The Guardian 10/26/26)
“Benjamin Netanyahu has resorted to increasingly alarmist rhetoric and reportedly put pressure on Israel’s military to take action against Iran as his far-right coalition narrowly trails in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s close-run elections. The Israeli prime minister posted an AI-generated image of a nuclear mushroom cloud destroying Tel Aviv, telling Israeli voters to choose him or risk nuclear annihilation…Israel’s Channel 12 news reported that the prime minister and the armed forces chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, clashed in recent days over a directive to the military which could “potentially spark an immediate conflagration with Iran at a very sensitive juncture”, by provoking a miscalculation by Iran. Zamir is reported to have requested the directive, the details of which were not specified, to be presented to him in writing. Netanyahu denied the report, and the defence ministry later denied any intention to carry out military operations against Iran. On Monday however, CNN reported that Netanyahu had tried to convince Donald Trump to launch a renewed assault on Iran in recent weeks, renewing the war both men started in February.” See also CNN: Netanyahu pushed for Iran strike before election, Trump refused but signaled there will be joint action soon; PMO denies report (TOI 10/26/26); US has plans for major Iran strikes if Trump chooses (CNN 10/26/26);
Exclusive: Miliband set on sanctions regardless of Israel election outcome as officials try to weaken measures (MEE 10/30/26)
“Britain will press ahead with sanctions on Israeli settlements whatever the outcome of Israel’s elections, senior UK government figures have privately insisted. Even if Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer prime minister, Labour ministers intend to implement comprehensive sanctions, including against companies providing construction and real estate services for settlement expansion. Implementing the sanctions, however, will not be an easy task and the process could take up to nine months.” See also Netherlands Drops Out of 2027 Eurovision Song Contest in Protest Over Israel’s Participation (Haaretz 10/27/26)
Emirati diplomat who helped deliver aid to Gaza enters UN secretary general race (The Guardian 10/25/26)
“An Emirati diplomat who as UAE ambassador to the UN helped secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza has entered the race as a late contender to succeed António Guterres as the world body’s secretary general. Lana Nusseibeh, who is of Palestinian heritage, is widely noted for her advocacy of the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution and has won the endorsement of the state of Palestine. She is however facing criticism over the UAE’s contested role in arming the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, a group that has been accused of genocide by two successive US administrations. Nusseibeh, 48, has been one of the leading UAE diplomats denying reports that the UAE supplied weapons to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo in defiance of a UN arms sales ban.” See also Sudanese diaspora and human rights groups denounce UAE nominee for UN top job (The Guardian 10/30/26); The UAE has so much blood on its hands in Sudan. For its nominee to lead the UN would be an outrage (Nesrine Malik//The Guardian 10/26/26)
International dock workers strike to protest arms shipments, including to Israel (TOI 10/30/26)
“Dockworkers in Europe and beyond were staging strikes on Friday as part of an international campaign against arms shipments and to demand better working conditions, unions said. Unions in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Morocco issued a joint call to demand an end to the wars in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, and “an end to the militarization of ports.” “Ports must not be used for the transport of weapons, ammunition, military equipment and troops,” the statement said. “Dockworkers do not work for war!” Organizers say more than 100 ports across multiple countries joined the protest movement that could affect port operations in parts of Europe, the Mediterranean region and North America.”
Egypt fines prominent editor Lina Attalah and shuts independent news outlet Mada Masr (The Guardian 10/28/26)
“Lina Attalah, a prominent Egyptian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, has been released from detention by Egypt’s authorities and had her website ordered to be shut down by a court amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media in the country.”
Berlin Far-Left Mayoral Frontrunner Accidentally Reveals Fear of Hamas-Linked Supporters (Haaretz 10/30/26)
“Elif Eralp, the leading candidate for Berlin mayor from the far-left Die Linke party, privately admitted that she was afraid to publicly criticize party supporters with alleged ties to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in internal notes she accidentally sent to Der Spiegel and which the magazine published Thursday. “I can’t put myself and my family in danger for [Der] Spiegel,” Eralp wrote, adding that she and her husband were “afraid of these people,” referring to party supporters associated with Palestinian militant groups.”
RIVER TO THE SEA
With all votes counted, Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats, Eisenkot’s 48, Arab parties 19 (TOI 10/30/26)
“The Central Elections Committee (CEC) published the final results of the 2026 national election in the early hours of Friday morning. The full official results are slated to be presented to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, after the CEC completes any final inquiries into errors or complaints. Following that, Herzog will meet with each party leader as they issue their recommendation for the person they believe should form the next government. The final voter turnout was 77.9% of eligible voters — the highest figure in decades — with 5,716,665 votes cast. The final results give Likud 27 seats, Yashar 21, B’Yachad 12, the Joint List 11, The Democrats 8, Ra’am 8, Yisrael Beytenu 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Otzma Yehudit 7, Shas 6 and Religious Zionism 6.” See also Netanyahu bloc loses majority as most ballots counted (The Guardian 10/28/26); I’m an Israeli Opposition Leader. It’s Time to Form a Government With Arabs (Yair Golan//Haaretz 10/30/26); Eisenkot: I will do my utmost to form a Zionist government, with national service for all; Netanyahu should step down: Full text (TOI 10/28/26); Netanyahu: We must form strong, national, right-wing government, remove existential threat from Iran: Full text(TOI 10/28/26); Israel: Tibi urges Eisenkot to show ‘courage’ and form minority government with Palestinians (MEE 10/30/26);
How Ben Gvir and Smotrich helped drive historic Arab voter turnout (Baker Zoubi//+972 Magazine 10/28/26)
“For weeks, polls have been predicting a surge in Arab voter turnout compared to previous Israeli elections, perhaps reaching as high as 70 percent. Yesterday’s results blew those predictions out of the water, with early estimates suggesting turnout was around 80 percent — the highest among Palestinian citizens of Israel in decades, and above the national average. With final votes still being counted, the two Arab parties — the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am) — are projected to achieve a combined 18–19 out of the Knesset’s 120 seats, surpassing their previous record of 15 in 2020…This was the ninth election that I have voted in, and the eighth that I have covered as a journalist. But I have never seen anything like what I saw yesterday…In my view, the two people who did the most to make this election a local event were far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich…Their actions brought national politics into almost every Arab home. Over the past four years, violent crime has devastated our communities, and many feel the state has abandoned us to face it alone. Home demolitions are no longer an abstract political issue. Smotrich’s rhetoric about “Judaizing” the Galilee and the Naqab (Negev) concerns the land on which hundreds of thousands of us live. Incitement against Arabs has become routine; for some ministers in the outgoing government, it is an integral part of their political identity, something they present to voters as proof that they are doing their jobs.”
Bedouins Turned Out in Force to Protest. Now Their Vote Is Under Attack (Haaretz 10/30/26)
“After years of home demolitions, crime and discrimination, Bedouin voters flooded the polls in record numbers. Fraud allegations have left many feeling that even their democratic participation is being cast as illegitimate” See also Netanyahu accused of smearing Arab voters to hold on to power (The Guardian 10/29/26); Netanyahu’s Son Says Arab Citizens Are Israel’s ‘Greatest Threat’ After Nuclear Iran (Haaretz 10/30/26);
Breaking a Decades-Old Taboo, East Jerusalem Palestinians Turn Out in Force (Haaretz 10/28/26)
“Palestinian turnout in East Jerusalem in Tuesday’s Knesset election broke all records since Israel annexed the eastern part of the city in 1967, as more than 10,000 residents exercised their right to vote – with the vast majority backing the Joint List – tripling the rate recorded in the previous election. The overwhelming majority of the roughly 391,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are ineligible to vote in Knesset elections. After annexing the city, Israel refrained from granting them full citizenship, instead giving them “permanent resident” status, which grants the right to vote in municipal elections but not national ones. Despite this, several thousand have obtained Israeli citizenship over the years. Estimates suggest that between 5 and 7 percent of East Jerusalem residents are now citizens and are included in the Knesset voter registry. Yet even those eligible to vote have traditionally boycotted both municipal and national elections. For many years, voting was seen as an act that normalized the occupation, and Palestinian political movements, including Fatah and Hamas, called for election boycotts and even attacked candidates and voters. This is also why Arab parties in Israel do not campaign in East Jerusalem. But many in East Jerusalem believe the political and social taboo against participating in elections has run its course. Many said they had decided to vote out of a desire to keep far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich out of the government.” See also After losing his majority, Netanyahu tries to delegitimize election results (Axios 10/29/26)
‘We’ve Seen This Movie’: Four Writers on What’s Next for Israel (Diana Buttu, Yossi Klein Halevi, Dahlia Scheindlin, Bret Stephens and Daniel J. Wakin//NYT 10/29/26)
“Diana Buttu: Israel uses the claim that Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship can vote as somehow being a defense against the charge of apartheid. But here we see clearly that despite the fact that Palestinians, who make up about 20 percent of the population, showed they wanted an end to this government, our votes are being discounted. The opposition, despite being given an opportunity to seize power from Mr. Netanyahu by forming a coalition with the Palestinian-led parties, cannot seem to get over their racism to finally oust him.”
In Hebron, Netanyahu is turning displacement into an election spectacle (Issa Amro//+972 Magazine 10/27/26)
“According to the Hebron Municipality, roughly 3,971 people from 619 families have been forcibly displaced since Oct. 23. Many, like my sister, were shocked to find themselves targeted by the military. Families were ordered out of their homes in the middle of the night, given just minutes to gather their belongings, and left with nowhere to go. Some fled with only the clothes on their backs, leaving behind even their children’s schoolbooks. The scale of the destruction is staggering. According to the municipality, approximately 86 acres of the city had already been destroyed or marked for demolition by Saturday afternoon. Israeli soldiers have taken over evacuated houses, spray-painted black Xs on their walls, and draped Israeli flags over balconies. Military vehicles have blocked neighborhood roads, while checkpoints have been closed, cutting residents off from their homes and restricting movement across the city.” See also IDF Forcibly Removes 2,231 Palestinians From West Bank City, Deputy Mayor Says (Haaretz 10/25/26); Israel razes homes of gunmen who carried out deadly Hebron shooting attack (TOI 10/31/26); ‘It’s collective punishment’: nearly 2,000 Palestinians in Hebron displaced as Israeli forces take over homes (The Guardian 10/26/26); Israeli soldiers raze neighbourhood in Hebron, driving families from homes (The Guardian 10/25/26);
‘There are no dreams here’: How Israel’s outgoing gov’t remade the West Bank (Shatha Yaish, Oren Ziv and Basel Adra//+972 Magazine 10/26/26)
“Over the past four years, the occupied West Bank has undergone a profound transformation at the hands of Israel’s outgoing government. Particularly in the wake of October 7, 2023, Israel has intensified its military operations, expanded settlements and outposts, imposed sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement, tightened its control over vast areas, and reshaped the territory’s legal status. What was already a fragmented landscape, divided by checkpoints, settlements, and closed military zones, has become increasingly difficult for Palestinians to navigate, let alone inhabit. Roads that once connected communities are now blocked, villages have become increasingly isolated, and places that had seen little settlement activity for decades are now confronting an expanding Israeli presence. For many Palestinians, the changes have fundamentally altered their relationship with their land, their livelihoods, and their sense of security. Since the start of 2023, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,341 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. State-backed settler pogroms — which tend to only receive media attention when their victims are internationals — have fully or partially displaced at least 127 Palestinian communities. Ongoing Israeli military operations in three refugee camps in the north of the territory have rendered 30,000 Palestinians homeless, while an additional 3,000 were displaced in recent days amid a new operation in the city of Hebron.” See also Settlers Attack Palestinians in Multiple Locations Across the West Bank (Haaretz 10/27/26); Israel Arrests Influencer Andrey X, U.S. Journalist After Settler Attack Near Hebron (Haaretz 10/29/26)
What are the election fraud allegations roiling Israel? Could they change the results? (TOI 10/29/26)
“Deputy Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, the head of the Central Elections Committee, on Thursday instructed Shin Bet chief David Zini to investigate suspicions that Tuesday’s Knesset election may have been swayed by “funds from foreign entities acting against the Israeli interest.”…reports in Hebrew media have said the suspicions involve Qatari funds allegedly used to encourage Arab voters to go to the polls. Qatar denies interfering in Israel’s election and has called the allegations “ridiculous and dangerous.” The allegations have been widely trumpeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his coalition, which is set to lose its Knesset majority after an unprecedented Arab turnout in Tuesday’s election gave Arab-led parties a predicted record high of 19 seats. Netanyahu’s Likud party charged that the election had been “stolen.” Acting Central Elections Committee director general Dean Livne said there was no basis for allegations of widespread fraud in the election. The Arab parties have decried Likud’s statement as “racist,” while leading opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of spearheading an “illegitimate influence operation” to undermine the election’s results. But election results have never been overturned in Israel, and if these allegations go to court, it would not delay the swearing-in of the new Knesset, though it could complicate coalition talks. Here’s what you need to know about the allegations and how they could affect the vote.” See also Trump takes credit for Netanyahu’s election boost after endorsement (TOI 10/28/26); The Palestinian Parties Could End Netanyahu’s Rule (Josh Nathan-Kazis//JC 10/28/26); The Results Are In: Meet the Members of the 26th Knesset (Haaretz 10/30/26)
Netanyahu’s Bid to Discredit Israel’s Election Results Is Starting to Unravel (Amos Harel//Haaretz 10/30/26)
“The new Qatar affair, which burst into our lives Thursday morning, increasingly appears to be a hastily concocted, panic-driven, overgrown Frankenstein’s monster of a “foreign influence campaign.” But rather than pointing to Doha, the signs seem to lead toward Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the locations, respectively, of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Shin Bet security service’s headquarters.” See also Election panel director rejects claims of widespread voter fraud; Shin Bet: Foreign interference probe is ‘limited’ (TOI 10/29/26);
The Great Schlep (Daniel Brook//New Yorker 10/24/26)
“Tens of thousands of Israelis living abroad are flying back to cast votes in what many describe as the most pivotal election in the country’s history.” See also The Expat Voters Hoping to Swing Israel’s Election
(NYT 10/25/26);
British politicians among international delegates barred from entering West Bank (The Guardian 10/26/26)
“An international delegation including British politicians has been barred from entering the West Bank on a trip to meet Palestinian children, farmers and society leaders facing escalating violence from Israeli forces during olive harvest season. The delegation of 23 people, including four elected representatives, was drawn from countries including France, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Greece, Holland, Ireland and the US.”
Israel Revoked Entry Permits of Brad Lander and Other US Jews After West Bank Olive Harvest Detention (JC 10/27/26)
“Israeli immigration authorities on Thursday revoked Democratic House candidate Brad Lander’s permission to enter Israel, a day after he and dozens of American rabbis and other US Jewish leaders were detained in the West Bank while helping a Palestinian family harvest their olives. Authorities later revoked the entry permits of dozens of the American rabbis and other Jewish leaders detained alongside Lander…The revocations come amid a deepening crackdown by Israel on undesirable foreign nationals, with a number of activists and journalists barred from entry in the past few weeks, and a widening rupture between the liberal American Jewish establishment and the Israeli government.”
U.S. SCENE
AIPAC Isn’t Retreating. Here’s How It’s Already Shaping the Next Congress. (Akela Lacy//The Intercept 10/29/26)
“As The Intercept reported in December, AIPAC entered the 2026 midterms by returning to its strategic roots — funding other groups and uniting donors, rather than focusing on direct-to-candidate spending. Now, AIPAC has announced that it will no longer officially endorse or contribute directly to candidates. Though progressives welcomed the announcement as evidence of AIPAC’s retreat, it’s far from a sign that AIPAC is backing down. The group is expected to continue spending heavily on elections through its super PAC, which took advantage of campaign finance loopholes to conceal its involvement in several races this cycle until after elections had already passed. To Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, AIPAC’s opting for obscurity shows that “its brand has become politically radioactive .”But how much has really changed? As AIPAC shifts strategy, a new project by The Intercept reveals the hundreds of candidates still taking its cash, plus how the money paid off for them. The data suggests that though the pro-Israel lobbying giant may be weakened, it’s still dominant.” See also How AIPAC and AI Spent Their Money This Midterm Election (The Intercept 10/30/26); ‘Dead Within the Democratic Party’: How AIPAC’s Electoral Adventure Unraveled (Haaretz 10/25/26); For more on AIPAC & the US Elections, see Lara Friedman’s Legislative Round-Up October 30, 2026: Selected Media & Press Statements
Providence Is Poised to Become the Largest U.S. City to Divest From Israel. What Happens Next? (Haaretz 10/26/26)
“Supporters and critics of a ballot initiative to force Providence, Rhode Island, to divest from Israel agree on one major point: It’s almost certainly going to pass. If voters approve Question 7 on November 3, Providence will become the largest city in the United States with legislation meant to divest from Israel, and officials will immediately be required to shift the city’s investments…The item does not name Israel. Instead, voters are asked to answer yes or no to the question “Shall an Ordinance divesting from foreign countries conducting severe violations of human rights such as ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide be approved?”…[Both sides are] preparing for what follows: Supporters hope to replicate the initiative nationwide, and opponents are gearing up for legal challenges. “We’re excited to work with fellow activists around the country interested in learning from our work and replicating it in their own communities,” said Zach Kligler, a Jewish day school graduate who is a lead organizer with Providence for Palestine.” See also El-Sayed distances himself from ad blaming high US grocery bills on Israel ‘killing Palestinians’ (TOI 10/29/26); Mahmoud Khalil asks US supreme court to review his deportation case (The Guardian 10/29/26)
Biden’s Choice (Ben Rhodes//NYRB 11/19/26 Issue)
“As Israel’s assault on Gaza grew worse and worse, Joe Biden and his advisers acted as though they had no option but to offer their unconditional support. Why couldn’t they see the destruction they were enabling?” See also Former Biden Officials Urge 2028 Presidential Candidates to Shun Staff Who Enabled Gaza War (Haaretz 10/29/26)
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Five Key Questions After Israel’s Elections (Yousef Munayyer//Arab Center DC 10/30/26)
“What Will this Election Mean for Gaza and the West Bank and Israel’s Relations with the World? In the short term, especially in the period of coalition formation, there is an increased risk that the Israeli government led by Netanyahu could escalate violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in order to distract or interrupt the coalition formation process. Doing so may put more pressure on the anti-Netanyahu bloc to keep the Palestinian parties out of the coalition. Netanyahu may also be willing to restart strikes on Iran and create a state of emergency to stave off his ouster. Even after such a coalition does form, there could be a risk of increased settler attacks on Palestinians, as a response to the far-right losing power and as a way to put pressure on the new coalition. In the short term, whether a new coalition forms or not, there is no reason to expect less Israeli violence directed at Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.”
Why I, a Palestinian Citizen of Israel, Broke My Boycott and Voted in the Election (Nagham Zbeedat//Haaretz 10/28/26)
“I am a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and until Tuesday, I had never voted in an election…At my old junior high school, I walked slowly through the corridors. My neighbors were arriving with their children. Some persisted on crutches; others leaned on walking sticks. They hurried to vote. I was shaking: Am I really doing this? I held the envelope. Everything around me disappeared. And when I placed it in the ballot box, no relief came, no sense that I had made the right choice. I had only the hope I had carried into the school: that one family in Gaza or the West Bank might feel less alone…I know why Palestinians here voted. Fear was part of it: fear of losing what remains, fear of what comes next, fear that staying away would leave us more exposed. I felt that fear too. But voting did not require me to trust the system. I cast my ballot knowing that the same system is built on Jewish supremacy, racism and apartheid; that it has been killing my people in Gaza, ethnically cleansing my people in the West Bank and leaving my people exposed to gun violence in Israel.”
Deepfake Nation: Israel’s first AI-dominated election marks a new era in post-truth politics. (Natasha Soffer-Roth and Josh Nathan-Kazis//JC 10/27/26)
“If you opened social media in Israel as the elections heated up over the past month, you would have seen a slurry of videos that didn’t look quite right…These videos are all political “deepfakes,” featuring AI-generated simulacra of real people, and they’ve taken over the Israeli internet. “Social media platforms are flooded,” said Anat Ben-David, a professor and head of communications studies at the Open University of Israel. On Instagram in particular, “the only thing you see [in Israel] is AI content related to the elections,” she said. The profusion of these AI deepfakes represents a new phase in Israel’s post-truth politics. While Israelis have long been presented with a heavily curated version of their reality, the extent of the fiction the Israeli public is being fed is now unprecedented. Alternating between ominous and cartoonish, and laced with racism, the AI videos allow Israeli politicians to broadcast their darkest fantasies of triumph or defeat more viscerally than ever before, a direct transmission from their id to the public in an effort to influence voters’ choices at the ballot box. Call it the first “deepfake” election.”
It’s Bibi or Tibi: Israel’s Future Depends on Its Arab Citizens (Gideon Levy//Haaretz 10/29/26)
“The results of the election have led to a situation in which Israelis must choose between a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu and a government that includes the Arab parties. No other option seems to be shaping up. Voters for the “change bloc,” including the racists among them, and there is no dearth of those, must ask themselves who has caused greater damage to the country, Bibi or Tibi? And who will inflict more damage upon it in the future, Yousef Jabareen or Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich or Mansour Abbas? But this isn’t only about the next government. The reality that was revealed two days ago is that there is no alternative to right-wing rule in Israel other than the inclusion of the Arabs in the bloc of change. Like it or not, without the Arabs there will be no change here.” See also The battle for Jewish votes among Israel’s Palestinian parties (Amos Brison//+972 Magazine 10/27/26)
Palestinian citizens are the big winners of Israel’s election. It doesn’t matter (Rami Younis//+972 Magazine 10/30/26)
“The historic result for Arab parties is rendered meaningless by an Israeli opposition that appears unwilling to partner with them to depose Netanyahu.”
In a museum in Naples, I felt the ghosts of Gaza (Ahmed Dremly//+972 Magazine 10/29/26)
“The relics of Pompeii survived centuries buried under lava and ash. I fear the Gaza I knew will survive only inside me.”
What Lula’s victory means for Palestine solidarity in Brazil (Rula Shadeed//New Arab 10/27/26)
“Over the weekend, Brazilians elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva president once more by a very narrow margin, defying polls that had him trailing. No candidate had won a Brazilian runoff from second place since 1989. That precedent is broken, and it was broken from below: by student-led rallies in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Porto Alegre. The rallies were called without Lula, by pop-star fan communities and influencers who injected energy into a campaign that had flagged all year, and by widespread mass communications like Deputy André Janones’s WhatsApp channel, which passed 10 million followers. Many of those young figures have been vocal on Palestine. Their job now is to make sure their government hears them. That mobilisation will matter all the more given the political landscape Lula faces. The Congress that convenes on 1 February will comprise 594 members, 513 deputies and 81 senators, with the right and its allies holding a comfortable majority in both houses. With 90 members close to the Palestinian struggle, the challenge will be to turn that support, alongside pressure from civil society, into concrete political action…Lula has always been a conciliator. But a fourth and last term with popular backing opens room for much bolder steps, including ending trade relations with illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, withdrawing from the Mercosur–Israel Free Trade Agreement, imposing a total embargo on weapons and technology transfers with the Zionist regime, and investigating and halting any indirect exports of Brazilian oil through third-country intermediaries.”