Ben-Gvir gains younger voters as Israel prepares for October 27 election

Jerusalem, Israel. Polls indicate that Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party is attracting younger and urban Israelis ahead of next week’s October 27 election, broadening its base beyond militant settlers in the occupied West Bank. The gains come as surveys suggest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud will lose roughly one-third of its parliamentary seats.

A younger electorate

An Agam Labs survey at Hebrew University in Jerusalem found that Jewish Power voters are younger than Israel’s electorate overall. Up to one-third of the party’s supporters will cast ballots for the first time.

Among them is Gavriel Marmon, an 18-year-old student from Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, who said his opinion of Ben-Gvir changed after examining his positions.

“I used to think he was a bit crazy, but then I actually looked at what he was saying, and it all made sense,” Marmon said.

Marmon cited legislation sponsored by Ben-Gvir and approved in March that establishes hanging as the standard punishment for Palestinians found guilty of attacks against Israelis. Israeli courts are expected to overturn the law, partly because Jews would not face the same penalty.

Ben-Gvir marked the measure with a lapel pin depicting a noose and a cake bearing the same symbol for his 50th birthday.

Support beyond the party’s traditional base

The party is also gaining ground in Tel Aviv, a cosmopolitan city traditionally associated with Israeli liberalism.

Odelia Kedmi, 41, said Ben-Gvir’s expansion of gun-carrying permits for Israelis had brought her a sense of relief. She compared his approach to President Trump’s idea of achieving peace through strength, but said Ben-Gvir’s version centred on Jewish strength.

Kedmi’s sister survived the Hamas militants’ assault on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war.

Despite serving for more than four years as police minister under Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, a combative representative of Israel’s far right, remains a political fringe figure in the eyes of many Israelis and much of the world.

He has said he intends to place crocodiles around imprisoned Palestinians. Videos also show him berating foreign activists intercepted at sea while attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, with the activists made to kneel at his feet, their faces pushed against the ground.

Uncertain election outcome

The October 27 vote will be Israel’s first election since the Hamas-led attacks of 2023, the deadliest in the country’s history. Many Israelis hold failures by Netanyahu’s government responsible.

Polling puts Likud on course to lose about a third of the 32 seats it holds in the Knesset, which has 120 members.

Nevertheless, whether Netanyahu’s opponents can remove Israel’s most right-wing government remains uncertain. Many voters, particularly younger Israelis, have moved further right, helping to sustain its prospects despite Likud’s projected losses.