JNS
Why Israeli firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir is soaring in polls, and why the left calls him a racist
Alex Traiman
October 25, 2022

The rise of Itamar Ben-Gvir is one of the major storylines of Israel’s fifth election cycle in little more than three years. The political firebrand from the right flank of Israel’s political spectrum is soaring in popularity, with polls showing his Religious Zionist bloc garnering as many as 14 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. That would likely make the Religious Zionist Party the third-largest in the Knesset (behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid) and larger than the National Unity Party led by current Defense Minister and former Netanyahu challenger Benny Gantz. READ MORE