Democrats seek to bar Otzma Yehudit from Knesset for undermining democracy, inciting racism

By Ariela Karmel

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14 September 2026, 9:19 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Itamar Ben Gvir (left) and Yair Golan. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90, Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The left-wing Democrats party files a request with the Central Elections Committee to bar the far-right Otzma Yehudit party from running in the October 27 election, accusing it of undermining democracy, denying “the existence of the State of Israel as a democratic state,” and inciting racism.

“The representatives of Kahanism in the Knesset are no longer dealing in theory, but are using their governmental power and the immunity granted to them to crush the rule of law, violate judicial orders, refuse to recognize the authority of the High Court of Justice, harm state security and incite violent racism,” the petition says.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who chairs Otzma Yehudit, is a self-described disciple of the late far-right extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was banned in Israel from running for the Knesset, and designated in the US as a terror organization. Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.

Focusing on Ben Gvir’s conduct as national security minister, the petition charges that he “exercises governmental authority in violation of the law, systematically acts contrary to Supreme Court decisions, issues operational instructions to the police against protesters and uses appointments to intimidate gatekeepers.”

It also singles out Otzma’s new No. 2, former Likud MK Tally Gotliv, accusing her of using parliamentary immunity “to harm state institutions” by disclosing the identity of a Shin Bet officer while promoting a conspiracy theory that anti-government activists colluded with Hamas ahead of the October 7, 2023, attack.

Gotliv was set to be indicted over the disclosure, but the Knesset granted her immunity from prosecution in June.

“A member of Knesset who actively harms state security and endangers the life of a public servant — this illustrates in the clearest possible way the grounds of “denying the existence of the state” and harming its institutions,” the petition argues.

The request comes days after Otzma itself petitioned the CEC to disqualify the Islamist Ra’am party and its leader, Mansour Abbas, alleging that the party rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish state and supports an “armed struggle” against it.

Abbas has repeatedly rejected violence as a political tool and acknowledged Israel’s Jewish character, declaring in 2021 that Israel “was born as a Jewish state” and would remain one. Last month, however, he called the state’s Jewish character “a reality imposed upon us.”