I make no claims to expertise in this field (although I have visited and reported from Israel, Gaza and Lebanon in years gone by) but the current election is fascinating.

The story is far more complex than most outsiders understand. Let’s not forget that Arabs came out in record numbers and won 19 seats in the 120 seat parliament. They will be important as negotiations proceed to form the next government.

The far left and far right in Europe and the USA see the story in very simple terms of right and wrong, Jews and Arabs. The reality is far more nuanced and difficult to understand.

I am told by Israeli friends that the Israeli Arabs (or Palestinians – how should one best describe them?) concentrate on their lives in Israel rather than what is happening in Gaza. Hardly surprising, perhaps.

Two examples

The other key point for me is how some Jews and Arabs cross over the divide.

There are examples of Jews who are members of Ra’am – which is a mainly Bedouin party. Yoav Segalovitz is one. He is by no means on the left.

He served in the Paratroopers Brigade during his national service in the Israel Defense Forces. And he was Deputy Minister of National Security between 2021 and 2022. He is now number 2 on Ra’am’s election list and might be in the next government.

Some Arabs also support Zionist parties.

Yoseph Haddad is one. A Christian Palestinian, Haddad volunteered to join the Israeli Defence Force in 2003. He said he was motivated to do sy by an atrocity: the Maxim restaurant suicide bombing that killed 21 Israelis, including several Israeli Arabs. At his request, he was accepted into another elite unit, the Golani Brigade and became a commander. For his work during the Gaza war, the Zionist Council in Israel recognized him as one of 16 “Heroes of the Home Front” in 2024.

In the current election Haddad was on People of Israel party list, behind chairman Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter. The right-wing party endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli politics is a mad, mad, mad world in many ways – not so very different from the complexities of politics anywhere else.