Hasan Piker, Mike Huckabee and a week of Israeli political party-hopping

A last-minute scramble before the party lists for Israel’s elections are finalized on September 8 has led to the disappearance of small parties, politicians switching parties and the dismissal of veteran ultra-Orthodox Knesset members by leaders who want to “refresh” their party lists.

On the Haaretz Election Podcast, correspondents Linda Dayan and Etan Nechin reviewed the week’s big changes – along the return of October 7 conspiracy theories and the intermingling of U.S. and Israeli political campaigning with host Allison Kaplan Sommer.

Dayan noted the leap by controversial Likud MK Tally Gotliv to the extremist Otzma Yehudit party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, pointed out that the move “shows how much Likud has absorbed toxic far-right populism.”

The drastic shrinking of Yesh Atid as its leader Yair Lapid has played second fiddle to more popular center-right figures like Benny Gantz, Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot, Nechin said, “represents the limitations of liberal Jewish Israeli society. ... There’s a segment of Israeli liberal society which deems itself very liberal and very open‑minded, but would rather cede to the right than explore new political possibilities."

Nechin also discussed his decision to interview controversial streamer Hasan Piker and why, despite pushback, he felt it was important to be the first in the Israeli media to do so.

"His platform, where young people – mostly men – might hear for the first time the term ‘anti‑Zionist’ or ‘settler colonialism’ or learn about Israel… makes him a person that is worth talking to," he said.

Read more:

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Bennett and Lapid Bid to Oust Netanyahu Again as They Unveil Joint Slate

As Election Focus Shifts to October 7, Netanyahu Pivots to Conspiracy Theories

Hasan Piker Talks Hamas, anti-Zionism and Why Americans Are Fed Up With Israel

A Convicted Terror Inciter and a Man Who Killed a Palestinian: Meet Ben-Gvir's Election Team