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A month of turmoil: Israel elections and escalations with Palestine

27. November 202212. April 2024By Sofia Bergmann
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A lot has happened this month in Israel and Palestine – elections bringing back Benjamin Netanyahu expected to form a right-wing coalition and heightened tensions with Palestine have brought a wave of uncertainty to the region.

At the beginning of November, Israel voted for the fifth time in four years with Benjamin Netanyahu eager for a comeback after being ousted earlier this year and replaced by Yair Lapid. Netanyahu with support from the far-right in Israel is back, but he had been in power for 12 years before Lapid who was part of the centrist Yesh Atid party, took over. Now with Netanyahu winning a majority of seats in the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset, he is expected to form the most right-wing government  in Israel’s history with his Likud party, despite facing corruption charges and criticism.


IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interacts with supporters during the general elections celebrations – A comeback for Netanyahu and the religious and extreme right nationalist block. Jerusalem, Israel. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Saeed Qaq | Demonstrators gather to rally against former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is running as the leader of the Likud party. Israelis return to the polls on November 1 for a fifth general election in four years. 29 October, 2022.

Meanwhile in occupied Palestine, deadly escalations between Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Palestinians have continued, with raids and evacuations met with militant uprisings, along with Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in early November, have shaken up what has been a tumultuous month. Two blasts that struck Jerusalem on the morning of November 23 killing one and injuring at least 18 people, intensified the tension being the first bomb attack on Israeli civilians in more than six years. The night before, a Palestinian teenager was killed in crossfire during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank, adding to the more than 100 Palestinians killed in the conflict this year, including American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

While the UN General Assembly voted 98-17 on Friday, November 11 to appeal to the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the legality of the Palestinian occupation with human rights groups calling it a form of apartheid, Israel and The United States were among those who opposed this motion. Netanyahu and his colleagues in the Religious Zionism and Otma Yehudit parties, are known for their relentlessly harsh stances on Palestine, and are expected to bring Israeli politics further to the right.

Between the shift in government in Israel and the rising tensions with Palestine and its increased militancy, IMAGO’s partners, including one of its newest members APAimages, are covering the chaotic realities and sociopolitical situation in the region.

See IMAGO’s collections and coverage of news  in Israel and Palestine, and our curated collection on the recent elections and conflict.


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IMAGO / APAimages | Fire and smoke billowing in the background following an Israeli air strike on Khan Yunis, Gaza strip. 4 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Nasser Ishtayeh | A Palestinian protester demonstrates infront of Israel soldiers and Jewish settlers against the seizure of Palestinian farmers lands in the village of Burqin, west of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank. 20 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Saeed Qaq | Scene of the bus explosion in Jerusalem. 23 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Supporters of the ultranationalist party Otzma Yehudity ( Jewish Strength ) celebrate in Jerusalem after hearing the results of the exit polls giving their party 14 seats in the parliament. 1 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Election posters of different Israeli political parties outside a polling station in Tel Aviv. 1 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / UPI Photo / Maya Alleruzzo | Israel’s outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, center, attends the swearing-in ceremony for Israel’s government, at the Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel. 15 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / UPI Photo | Yair Lapid casts his vote at a polling station in Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv in the country’s fifth election in four years on. 1 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Xinhua | Former Israeli Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before receiving the mandate from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to form a new government at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. 13 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Leader of the ultranationalist party Otzma Yehudity ( Jewish Strength ) Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks to supporters in Jerusalem after hearing the results of the exit polls giving his party 14 seats in the parliament. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Nasser Ishtayeh | Palestinian children walk past the earth mounds that were set as blockades by the Israeli army at the entrance to the Qusra village, south of Nablus after Palestinians threw stones at cars of Jewish settlers in the Israeli settlement of Mogolin. 13 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Ashraf Amra | Palestinians inspect the site targeted by Israeli airstriks, in Maghazi, in the middle of Gaza. 4 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Ahmed Ibrahim | Funeral for Rafat Issa, 29, who was killed after Israeli soldiers opened fire at him west of Jenin, West Bank. 10 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Xinhua / Muamar Awad | A Palestinian man killed three Israelis and wounded three others in an attack on Tuesday in the West Bank before being shot dead by Israeli forces. 15 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Israeli supporters of the ultra nationalist far right party Otzma Yehudit, and its leader Itamar Ben Gvir, hold banners with his portrait in Tel Aviv. 23 October, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Youssef Abu Watfa | Militants of al-Ansar brigades the military wing of the Palestinian al-Ahrar Movement take part during a military march, on the anniversary of the military conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2012, in Gaza city. 14 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Ahmed Tayem | Israeli bulldozers demolish two Palestinian-owned houses in the village of al-Walaja, northwest of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / NurPhoto / Saeed Qaq | Fire crews in the city of Jerusalem extinguish a fire that broke out in the property of an Arab citizen, in the town of Ras al-Amud. 5 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Ahmed Tayem | Palestinians inspect the rubble of their homes after Israeli forces demolish them in Jalbun village near the West Bank city of Jenin. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Nasser Ishtayeh | An Israeli soldier re-opens the gate of the separation barrier in the northern occupied West Bank for Palestinian farmers to enter their lands to pick olives. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Xinhua / Nidal Eshtayeh | A protester uses a slingshot to hurl a stone at Israeli soldiers following a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus. 18 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / Zuma Wire / Eyal Warshavsky | Leaflets of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside a polling station in Tel Aviv. 1 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Saeed Qaq | Israeli forces gather at the scene in the Old City of Jerusalem, where an assailant reportedly stabbed at least one Israeli officer before being shot dead Israeli forces. 2 November, 2022.

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IMAGO / APAimages / Saeed Qaq | Demonstrators gather to rally against former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 29 October, 2022.

Other previous similar articles include:

The faces of Gaza. Interview with Ashraf Amra.

What is left of Yemen’s Jewish Community?

Brazil’s elections. A deja vu?

 Article and image selections by Sofia Bergmann.

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