The first Israeli elections in four years have brought with them a record number of first-time voters \u2013 most of whom are keen to make their voices count.<\/p>\n
But while youth around the world are leaning to the left, young adults in Israel are heading in the opposite direction, according to recent polls.<\/p>\n
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The Israeli Central Elections Committee says more than half a million voters were added 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although their political activism and engagement in the public sphere are limited, a survey by the think tank, Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), found that a majority of young Jewish Israelis feel that the ballot box can influence reality and shape their country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n But what does the future they hope for look like?<\/p>\n Around three quarters of Jewish first-time voters polled identified as \u201cright or centre-right\u201d, according to a recent poll for Israel\u2019s Channel 12. That\u2019s significantly higher than the rest of the Israeli population, which has already been shifting to the right for years.<\/p>\n Now the title \u201cGeneration Right\u201d is being used to reference Israel\u2019s Jewish youth \u2013 though not the Palestinian citizens of Israel.<\/p>\n Mainstreaming far-right views<\/p>\n The first Israeli elections since the October 7, 2023 attack are contentious and polarising \u2013 and they will be decisive for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s political survival and his right-wing approach.<\/p>\n Critics of the longest-serving PM in Israel\u2019s history accuse him of supporting \u201cfar-right\u201d politicians to stay in power. They say that his handing of key government positions to extreme politicians such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> helped empower those camps and make their policies mainstream.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cterrorists\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Indeed, this incitement and view of Palestinians has become more prevalent.<\/p>\n A recent video published by the Israeli satirist Lior Schleien shows a young man saying he would kill Arabs in Israel.<\/p>\n Schleien, a left-wing activist, has been visiting schools and speaking with young people often before their army service. His videos are giving Israelis, and the world, a chance to understand the younger generation.<\/p>\n In the video, Schleien asks the student how he proposes to kill Arabs. The answer: \u201cGive me a knife and I will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Schleien asks whether October 7 changed his views. \u201cI\u2019ve always been racist,\u201d the young man answers, adding that Arabs shouldn\u2019t be allowed to live in the state of Israel. Even though the young man\u2019s face is slightly covered, shielding his identity, Schleien removed the video after a public backlash.<\/p>\n In another town hall meeting, Schleien addresses the question of whether there are innocent people in Gaza. When asked if Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, Schleien denies it, only for a female student to ask, \u201cDo you think it should be done?\u201d<\/p>\n Schleien looks unimpressed, but the student assures him that she is asking a serious question. Her friend, next to her, chuckles.<\/p>\n Speaking the language of the youth<\/p>\n At a recent meeting of young supporters of the left-leaning Democrats party in Tel Aviv, 18-year-old Gili told the AFP news agency that she believed Israeli society had abandoned the idea of peace.<\/p>\n She said the scars of October 7 instilled fear among people, making it hard for them to believe peace could ever be achievable.<\/p>\n While the October 7 attack may have accelerated the country\u2019s push to the right and far-right, many say Israeli society has been heading this way for years.<\/p>\n A survey by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth shows more than 16 percent of new voters plan to cast their ballot for far-right parties.<\/p>\n From a large field in southern Israel, 18-year-old Amihai was wearing a shirt with far-right minister Ben-Gvir\u2019s photo. The event he was attending called for the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n Talking to other young activists from a place overlooking the destroyed parts of the Gaza Strip, Amihai said he plans to vote for Otzma Yehudit<\/a>, a party led by Ben-Gvir, who himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n Although Ben-Gvir did not pass the threshold of the 2020 elections, he was given a central position in the 2022 government of Netanyahu.<\/p>\n In the years since, the minister seems to have learned to speak the language of Israel\u2019s youth. Despite having been convicted of supporting \u201cterror\u201d organisations as well as other criminal offences, Israeli surveys show that a chunk of his potential supporters in this election are first-time voters.<\/p>\n Ben-Gvir has also made sure to use his position to lobby for his \u201cI am not mincing my words\u201d policies.<\/p>\n