Ethnic cleansing, siege and collective punishment: The records of Israel’s incoming MPs

Israel’s projected next parliament includes politicians who have advocated collective punishment of Palestinians, ethnic cleansing, genocide, pushed for the starvations of Palestinians in Gaza and opposed Palestinian statehood.

The following candidates are on course to enter or return to the Knesset, according to provisional results.

Hanamel Dorfman - Jewish Power

Ben Gvir’s former chief of staff comes from the extremist Jewish settler movement. Haaretz quoted a 17-year-old Dorfman at a protest against African asylum seekers in Tel Aviv as saying: “The only problem with the Nazis is that I was on the losing side". Footage from his 2013 wedding showed him brandishing knives while dancing to songs calling for attacks on Palestinians.

Yitzhak Wasserlauf - Jewish Power

Wasserlauf invoked a biblical passage celebrating the killing of infants to motivate soldiers heading into Gaza. Jewish News reported that the recorded call documented him quoting Psalm 137, including its reference to seizing babies and smashing them against rocks.

Tzvika Mor - Religious Zionism–Zehut

The Kiryat Arba settler has openly promoted collective punishment. In an October radio interview, he demanded electricity and water cut-offs for Palestinian villages who resisted Jewish occupation, alongside the expulsion of their families and confiscation of their property.

Itamar Eitam - Religious Zionism–Zehut

The reserve lieutenant colonel has rejected the distinction between fighters and Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a common view in Israeli society. In a separate July 2024 interview, he portrayed Palestinians as evil and dismissed the idea that they simply wanted peaceful lives and an education for their children, like any other people.

Yonatan Shalev - Together

A combat reservist who served in Gaza during the genocide, Shalev has defended denying Palestinians a state. He told The Jerusalem Post that Bennett would not allow Palestinian statehood: “We’re not going to pass Israeli territory to anyone,” he said said of Palestinian land.

Yulia Malinovsky - Yisrael Beiteinu

Malinovsky joined activists blocking Gaza-bound aid trucks on 22 October, turning the obstruction of supplies into election campaigning. She publicised the blockade while accusing Netanyahu’s government of delivering food to Palestinians men, women and children instead of starving them.

Matan Kahana - Yashar

Kahana said in June 2022 that he would press a hypothetical button to remove Arabs and send them to Switzerland. The remark expressed a desire for mass ethnic cleansing and referred to Arabs generally, rather than specifically to Palestinians in Gaza.

Merav Ben-Ari - Together

During an October 2023 parliamentary debate, Ben-Ari blamed Palestinian children for their own suffering and rejected comparisons with Israeli children killed. A subsequent UN inquiry cited her remarks in its examination of rhetoric targeting Gaza’s children.