Elections in Israel: fourteen texts to understand
On 27 October, Israelis go to the polls for the first time since the massacres of 7 October 2023 and the wars that followed. The question of Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power has dominated the campaign. Throughout this legislature, the furthest right in the country’s history, many of our authors, in Israel and in Europe, have described the political and moral crisis facing Israeli society: the conflict over the rule of law, the rise of religious nationalism, the transformation of the army and the continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories. The very meaning of the Zionist project is being called into question. To grasp what this election may change, and what it will not be enough to resolve, K. has selected fourteen texts available in English: analyses of the origins and manifestations of this crisis, accounts of resistance and proposals for the future. The complete dossier, in French, brings together fifteen.
I. A society on the brink
II. Israeli democracy put to the test
III. War, occupation, isolation: what Israel is becoming
IV. Which Zionism, what future?
PART I
A society on the brink
01
BRUNO KARSENTI · NOVEMBER 2022
Home is where you are? Israel on the edge of Zionism
“Welcome to Israel, we are the homeowners.” It was with these words that the most aggressive form of nationalism once again reared its head in Israel, voiced by Itamar Ben Gvir, during the arrest and unjustifiable treatment of members of the Gaza flotilla. As…
02
AMOS MORRIS-REICH · MARCH 2023
Israel, on the cusp of civil war?
This text is a friendly but critical reaction to Danny Trom’s article – « Israel: Towards a rupture? – in K., which discussed the dramatic course of events in Israel since the last elections and, in particular, the plans of the new government to change key…
03
NOÉMIE ISSAN-BENCHIMOL · OCTOBER 2024
Undermining Netanyahu
While the immediate focus is on the ground incursion into Lebanon, military operations and targeted assassinations, and the regional and even global balance, Noémie Issan-Benchimol, in this letter from Jerusalem, wants to bring us back to the more modest…
PART II
Israeli democracy put to the test
04
INTERVIEW WITH NETTA BARAK-CORREN · SEPTEMBER 2026
Who makes the law in Israel?
Israel goes to the polls on October 27, still at war on several fronts and still in the midst of the political crisis that began in early 2023 with the proposed judicial overhaul. Netta Barak-Corren, holder of the Chair of Human Rights at the Hebrew…
05
INTERVIEW WITH MORDECHAI KREMNITZER · APRIL 2026
Israel: An illiberal democracy?
Born in 1948 in Fürth, in the same hospital as Henry Kissinger, Mordechai Kremnitzer is one of the principal architects of Israel’s General Penal Code. A professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and senior research fellow at the Institute for…
06
ANNE RETHMANN · APRIL 2026
The Death Penalty and the Future of Law in Israel
On March 30, 2026, the Knesset passed the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law.” Anne Rethmann, a researcher in the history and theory of human rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, explains here how this vote represents a profound challenge to the rule…
07
INTERVIEW WITH EVA ILLOUZ · APRIL 2025
Eva Illouz: “If Zionism is hijacked by an authoritarian and anti-democratic political project, what will be left of it?”
Accused by the Israeli Minister of Education Yoav Kisch of “anti-Israeli ideology”, sociologist Eva Illouz has seen her nomination for the Israel Prize contested. She revisits the affair, denounces the authoritarian excesses of the Netanyahu government and…
PART III
War, occupation, isolation: what Israel is becoming
08
INTERVIEW WITH YAGIL LEVY · FEBRUARY 2026
On the evolution of the IDF: Interview with Yagil Levy
Much has been said and written about the Netanyahu government’s conduct during the war in Gaza and its attack on Israeli democracy. But very little analysis has been offered on the role of the IDF, which is nevertheless a key player. Julia Christ interviews…
09
INTERVIEW WITH DVIR WARSHAVSKI · APRIL 2026
Violence in the West Bank: The “protective presence” of Bnei Avraham
There are between 80 and 100 religious activists—Masorti and Haredi—who travel every week to Palestinian villages in the West Bank to accompany farmers on their land, physically block settlers, and spend Shabbat in homes opened to them by their hosts. Bnei…
10
DANNY TROM · OCTOBER 2025
Israel in the world: from Sparta to court Jew
Under Netanyahu’s government, and with the war in Gaza, the State of Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the international stage. The Israeli Prime Minister, a fan of power politics and macho bravado, would like to make this a source of pride:…
PART IV
Which Zionism, what future?
11
MICHAEL BRENNER · OCTOBER 2025
How the Israeli government is betraying Zionism
“Betrayal” is the appropriate word to describe what the ruling coalition in Israel is doing to the spirit of Zionism. While we hope that the end of the war in Gaza will be an opportunity for Israel to get off this slippery slope, German historian of Zionism…
12
FANIA OZ-SALZBERGER · SEPTEMBER 2026
For a Pragmatic Zionism
Fania Oz-Salzberger, a historian of ideas and the daughter of Amos Oz, rejects the deadly confrontation between supporters of Israel and Palestine. Opposing zero-sum narratives and absolute conceptions of justice, she affirms the equal national legitimacy of…
13
JULIA CHRIST, BRUNO KARSENTI AND DANNY TROM · MAY 2025
Israel-Palestine: “Two States Plus” – The Urgency of a Real Utopia
As the situation in Gaza worsens and the Israeli political debate becomes increasingly radicalized, any plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems out of reach. Yet many are working to prepare for the future. One political project, A Land for…
14
INTERVIEW WITH MERON RAPOPORT · MAY 2025
A conversation with Meron Rapoport from “A Land for All”
Israeli journalist and former reporter for Yediot Aharonot and Haaretz, Meron Rapoport co-founded the initiative A Land for All with Palestinian Honi Al-Mashni, which proposes a unique solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: two fully sovereign states,…
