Ben-Gvir courts young voters as Knesset election nears, poll shows
An Agam Labs poll at Hebrew University finds Jewish Power supporters younger than the average Israeli voter, with up to a third voting for the first time.
Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is poised for election gains as young voters turn towards his far-right Jewish Power party ahead of next week’s Knesset election, Reuters reports.
The report, by Emily Rose and Hannah Confino, cites an Agam Labs poll at Hebrew University showing that Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) supporters are younger than the average Israeli voter, with as many as a third voting for the first time.
Ben-Gvir’s support is reaching beyond the party’s core of militant settlers in the occupied West Bank to younger, urban voters who might once have considered him beyond the pale, the report says.
Gavriel Marmon, an 18-year-old student and first-time voter from Beit Shemesh, told Reuters: “I used to think he was a bit crazy, but then I actually looked at what he was saying, and it all made sense.”
Odelia Kedmi, 41, in Tel Aviv, said his policy expanding permits for Israelis to carry guns had “put air in my lungs”.
Ben-Gvir’s recent publicity includes celebrating his 50th birthday with a cake decorated with a noose, wearing a noose lapel pin, saying he plans to surround jailed Palestinians with crocodiles, and posting videos berating foreign activists captured at sea trying to bring aid to Gaza, forcing them to kneel.
He sponsored a March law making hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of attacks on Israelis; Reuters notes it is likely to be struck down by the courts, in part because it would not apply the same punishment to Jews.
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