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Eitan Chikli

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Sep 1, 2026, 12:14 AM

Israel’s Arab Parties: Three Visions and the Mansour Abbas Gamble

As Israel heads toward the October 27, 2026 election, just over one in five Israeli citizens is Arab. Yet for much of the Jewish public — and even more so for outside observers — their political representation is often...

Aug 27, 2026, 3:01 PM

Shas: The Revenge of the Forgotten Faces the Test of Power

As Israel's October 2026 election approaches, Shas remains one of the most distinctive parties on the country's political landscape. Aryeh Deri has long been its public face, but reducing Shas to its leader would miss the point. Shas –...

Aug 23, 2026, 12:36 PM

United Torah Judaism: Lithuanian and Hasidic Judaism at the Heart of Israeli Politics

A movement born in opposition to Zionism To understand United Torah Judaism (Yahadut HaTorah in Hebrew), one must look back well before the establishment of the State of Israel, to Katowice in 1912, when the city was part of Germany....

Aug 19, 2026, 10:47 AM

Itamar Ben-Gvir: The More He Shocks, the More Entrenched He Becomes

Few Israeli politicians provoke as immediate a reaction as Itamar Ben-Gvir. For much of the Israeli left and international opinion, he embodies the far right at its most alarming and repellent: Kahanism, radical nationalism, a taste for provocation and...

Aug 18, 2026, 11:15 AM

Bezalel Smotrich: The Methodical Radical

Few figures in contemporary Israeli politics provoke as immediate a reaction abroad as Bezalel Smotrich. Israel’s finance minister, a minister within the Defense Ministry, and leader of HaTzionut HaDatit — the Religious Zionist Party — he is routinely portrayed...

Aug 16, 2026, 4:37 PM

The Bennett Precedent: When Breaking Faith Becomes a Method of Government

To portray the Naftali Bennett episode as a mere exercise in political opportunism is to underestimate its significance. This was not simply a politician breaking a promise, switching camps, or placing personal ambition above loyalty to his voters. Bennett...

Aug 13, 2026, 12:58 PM

The Liberman Enigma

Right-Wing, Secular — and Politically Unpredictable

Aug 12, 2026, 10:52 AM

Yair Golan: Democracy for One Camp?

Any fair assessment of Yair Golan must begin with what is unquestionably to his credit. He spent nearly four decades in uniform, held some of the IDF’s most senior commands and rose to the post of deputy chief of...

Aug 11, 2026, 2:20 PM

Gadi Eisenkot: The reassuring man with the troubling doctrine

Gadi Eisenkot, chair of the Yashar party, attends a conference in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, July 9, 2026. (Sharon Leibel/Flash90)

The former IDF chief running for prime minister commands respect, but his security concept and political alliances deserve tough scrutiny from voters

May 22, 2018, 3:40 PM

How Israelis hear US Jews’ criticism

To claims that the American Jewish community's decline is our fault, we say: Look in the mirror

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About Me

The author holds a Doctor of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York and an MPA from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is the former director of the TALI Education Fund and former rector of Universidad Hebraica in Mexico. He is also the father of Minister Amichai Chikli.