Palestine weekly: Israel’s rightwing campaigns on anti-Palestinian abuses

What the report says

Al Jazeera reported on Sept. 1, 2026, that Israel’s far-right governing figures have intensified election-season messaging built around anti-Palestinian policies and imagery ahead of an October vote in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is trailing in polls. The piece focused on campaign activity by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, alongside wider developments in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to the report, Smotrich released an AI-generated campaign ad linking settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank to similar actions in Israel’s Negev and Galilee regions, while Ben-Gvir posted AI-generated prison imagery and videos targeting Palestinian detainees and women prisoners. Al Jazeera said these messages aligned with actions by Israeli authorities this week, including the seizure of a UNRWA facility in occupied East Jerusalem and renewed pressure for a post-election ground operation in Gaza City.

The article also described a broader escalation of violence in Gaza, including strikes that killed civilians such as farmers, delivery workers, children and people near a bakery and a residential building. It said hospital facilities were hit as well, and cited Gaza health authorities and UN humanitarian reporting on rising deaths and severe shelter conditions. In the West Bank, the report documented settler raids, demolitions, land seizures, roadblocks and new outposts, portraying the campaign rhetoric as part of a larger pattern of territorial control and displacement.

More broadly, the article argued that the election messaging reflects and reinforces existing policies on the ground, making the campaign relevant not only for Israeli politics but also for conditions facing Palestinians across the occupied territories.