The seminar explores the discursive mapping of far-right constituents within the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history, formed under Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership after the five elections held between 2019 and 2022.
The Religious Zionism Party and Jewish Power have consistently been at the centre of heated debate—not only because their leaders hold critical ministerial positions, including finance and national security, which gained heightened relevance in the aftermath of October 7th, but also due to their self-positioning within Israel’s shifting political landscape and their anti-establishment push for political and legal changes, even before these events.
The seminar examines their shared and divergent motivations during the 2021 and 2022 elections, with a focus on the division of labour between these two factions. Drawing on campaign data from X (formerly Twitter) by key leaders Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, it offers a comparative analysis of their articulation of the key issues such as legitimacy, sovereignty, and the judiciary.
Dr Ferit Belder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. He earned his MSc from SOAS, University of London, in 2016, and completed his PhD at Istanbul University in 2019. His doctoral research analyzed the political behavior of ultra-Orthodox political parties in Israel through the framework of societal security.
During his PhD studies, he was a visiting researcher at Bar-Ilan University from November 2017 to July 2018. His academic expertise focuses on Israeli politics, including elections and political parties; the identity-security relationship; Israel-Palestine relations; and Jewish settlements. He is currently conducting his postdoctoral research, titled Identifying Multiple Frames of the Israeli “Settlements”, at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.
His work has been published in journals such as Middle Eastern Studies, International Affairs, and the Contemporary Review of the Middle East, among others. Dr Belder has also presented his research at various academic conferences.
