Security fears and incitement drive young voters toward far-right

First-time voters are tipped to play a decisive role in the election, embracing the far-right amid concerns over security and the cost of living.

If a recent visit by Israeli comedian Lior Schleien to a Tel Aviv high school is anything to judge by, young voters in Israel may be moving even further right in the upcoming elections.

Those on the left fear that first-time voters could end up backing the racist Jewish Power party or other components of the far-right, impelled by fear of and hatred towards Arabs, and influenced by genocidal incitement messages they have absorbed from the country’s leaders such as “there are no innocents in Gaza.”

Schleien, a left-winger with a self-styled mission of causing Israel’s mostly right-wing youths to reevaluate their views, does his best to reason calmly with the 17- and 18-year-olds he meets during his forays, which he posts on social media.

As a stand-up comedian, he is used to all kinds of interactions. But nothing could have prepared him for the casualness with which the idea of killing all Gazans was tossed gleefully into the air during one of his recent appearances.

“Should we carry out genocide?” a 17-year-old woman wondered aloud. “I’m really asking,” she added, smiling. This pronouncement did not come out of nowhere. It was the culmination of her peers building up to it, with another young woman saying to an incredulous Schleien: “You really think there are innocent people in Gaza? They raise their children to be terrorists.”

Schleien replied that acting on such views would turn Israel into Hamas.

With first-time voters poised to have a large impact on the October 27 election, one possible trajectory is that young voters will provide a big boost to the far-right. Both Jewish Power and Religious Zionism parties support the expulsion of all Gazans, as well as the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir has made Gaza expulsions a centrepiece of his campaign in one clip, showing a happy Gazan family about to board a ship, while he, now the defence minister, signs their removal orders.