How the Red Sea came to the brink of a new regional war

A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea would not be isolated this time, and would likely draw in regional powers

Sean Mathews

Published date: 9 October 2026

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-red-sea-came-brink-new-regional-war

Overconfident.

That is how best to describe the mood in the capitals of Ethiopia and Eritrea as the two neighbours slide to the verge of an all-out war that risks dragging in outside powers and destabilising the Red Sea, which is already convulsed by wars in Sudan and Yemen. 

The chances of a regional war are higher than containing the conflict because people close to decision-makers on both sides are making calculations based on their foes' perceived weaknesses and discounting their own vulnerabilities. 

“All the leaders in the region say ‘we don’t want a regional war’, but that doesn’t prevent us from walking backwards into one,” Cameron Hudson, an Africa analyst and former CIA official, told Middle East Eye.

There are three levels to this conflict: Ethiopia's internal fissures, historic tensions with Eritrea, and the enabling role Middle Eastern powers are playing. 

From Ethiopia, to Eritrea and the Middle East

The core issue is a fight among Ethiopia’s ethnic groups over their country’s government. This is complex because Ethiopia has 80 ethnic groups. The main ones are Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan, Somali, and Afar. Some of them have their own well-armed militias.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is trying to change Ethiopia's government from one based on ethnic federalism to a more centralised system of rule. 

The hostilities began after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an Ethiopian rebel group, went on the offensive in September, vowing to topple Prime Minister Ahmed's government. TPLF’s early gains included taking control of the Tigray capital Mekelle. But they were quickly reversed by Ethiopia's government forces. 

The second level of the conflict is a longstanding rivalry between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

After WWII, Eritrea, once an Italian colony, was federated with Ethiopia, and in 1962, it was unilaterally annexed by Addis Ababa. After a three-decade-long insurgency, Eritrea became independent in 1993 under a United Nations referendum.

The two neighbours actually joined forces to fight against the TPLF in Ethiopia’s 2020-2022 civil war, but have generally had hostile relations. Ethiopia has made revisionist claims about acquiring Eritrea’s Red Sea coast, and Eritrea has supported militias inside Ethiopia opposed to the federal government.

Addis Ababa this week accused Eritrea of sending thousands of troops across the border to support the TPLF.

Multiple current and former US, EU and African officials tell MEE that Eritrean troops have entered Tigray where they are partaking in fighting. Ethiopia launched drone strikes on the Eritrean troops on Wednesday and Thursday, according to monitoring group ACLED.

Eritrea and Ethiopia last fought a war from 1998 to 2000. The conflict was bloody but largely contained. Now, a war between the two would likely pull in regional powers that did not have a stake in the fighting two decades ago.

Ethiopia is close to the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Addis Ababa has received drones and weapons systems from the UAE. Eritrea suspects Israel and the UAE would back a push by Addis Ababa to take its Red Sea coastline, hoping to gain access to a strategic sliver of that territory.

Eritrea has forged close ties with Somalia, Egypt and the Sudanese Armed Forces. All these countries oppose Abiy Ahmed’s government. Eritrea has also been moving closer to Saudi Arabia, which has diverged with the UAE over African hotspots such as Sudan and Somaliland.

Formal declaration of war anticipated 

Ethiopia and Eritrea have shuttered their respective embassies this week.

Ethiopia may issue a formal declaration of war against Eritrea in the coming days, a former senior European official with knowledge of the matter told MEE.

In a letter sent to the UN on Thursday, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defense”.

“Eritrea is the aggressor, Ethiopia is the victim. Eritrea is violating Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Addis Ababa said.

For its part, Eritrea has shot back.

“Ethiopia has in essence declared a war of aggression against Eritrea when its prime minister announced to his Parliament on 13 October 2023 that his regime will acquire ‘sovereign access to the sea’, through negotiations if possible and by force if necessary,” Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on Friday.

Tekeda Alemu, a career Ethiopian diplomat and former ambassador to the UN, told MEE that the two countries were already effectively at war.

“It’s very clear Eritreans have penetrated deep into Ethiopian territory. We are in the midst of war, even though it hasn’t been declared. The war is going on,” he said.

So far, Ethiopian Federal troops have performed well in the conflict. But the TPLF has shown it has the ability to regenerate, as it effectively forced federal forces out of Tigray in 2020 after being driven into the mountains by them. 

'Formidable alliance'

One twist to the conflict is the internal situation in Ethiopia. In September, the TPLF announced an alliance with six other armed Ethiopian groups that say their goal is to overthrow Abiy’s Ahmed government.

This alliance includes Fano, a militia made up of Amharas. This group has long seen themselves as the custodians of Ethiopia’s multi-ethnic state. The last emperor of Ethiopia, US-ally Haile Selassie, was Amhara, as were the main leaders of the Derg, the Soviet Union-backed Marxist junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1975-1991. The TPLF ruled Ethiopia from the collapse of the Derg until 2018, when Abiy Ahmed took office. 

Not all members of these ethnic groups back the alliance to overthrow Abiy Ahmed, who has tapped into Oromo nationalism, his own ethnic group. But Oromos also oppose Abiy Ahmed. The Oromo Liberation Army is part of the alliance to topple his government.

Alemu said that this alliance can’t be discounted.

“What is not clear is what the alliance is intending to do. They haven’t begun to start a full-scale war. The alliance can not be brushed aside. It is formidable, as is the government side,” he told MEE.

Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea of orchestrating the alliance to oust Abiy Ahmed. While Asmara denies this, Eritrean officials who spoke to MEE warned of the dangers the alliance poses to Abiy Ahmed.

But analysts say the alliance might be over-hyped.

“The TPLF has overestimated themselves. They also overestimated the support they’d receive from Amharas and Oromos in this alliance,” an analyst in Addis Ababa, who spoke with MEE on condition of anonymity, said.

The former senior western official told MEE that Abiy Ahmed may have welcomed the TPLF’s uprising in September because it brought simmering tensions with Eritrea to a head, giving him the opportunity to finally push towards the Red Sea. A US official in the region familiar with the decision-making in the Horn of Africa concurred with that assessment.

“The Eritreans have moved preemptively. The question is, have they fallen into a trap?” The former western official said. “Ethiopia will not only confront the Eritreans with ground forces, but they will launch aerial attacks on Eritrea. If the Ethiopian army moves, it will be in order to go to Asmara and Assab. They will not stop at the frontier."

Sirak Kifle, an Eritrean analyst who regularly speaks with officials in Asmara, told MEE that Ethiopia has long wanted an excuse to push towards the Red Sea. “Abiy is aiming at the ports of Eritrea,” he told MEE.

He added that the TPLF was still an effective fighting force that can’t be discounted. “Addis Ababa has brought around 400,000 soldiers into Tigray. So, it’s not difficult to fight the TPLF in the short term but is that sustainable?” he asked.

Cameron Hudson said Ethiopian federal forces are in better condition now than they were during the last conflict.

“Ethiopia has a ripping economy, a ton of money and deep-pocketed allies in the UAE and Israel. Abiy Ahmed has learned from the last war in Tigray and the numbers are on his side,” he said.

The regional actors

This is where the regional alliances come back into play. If Ethiopia moves out of Tigray and attempts to capture Eritrea’s Red Sea coastline, it will hit the Horn of Africa like a tsunami. 

Ethiopia and Egypt are long-time rivals. Cairo has grown more concerned about Ethiopia since it completed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Addis Ababa is now moving to build new dams on the Nile River that Cairo says threaten its national security. Egypt is also wary of Ethiopia acquiring a naval presence in the Red Sea.

Somalia and Ethiopia also have a difficult relationship. Mogadishu was unnerved by Ethiopia’s flirtation with recognising the Republic of Somaliland, a breakaway state acknowledged only by Israel.

Ethiopia is also deeply intertwined in Sudan’s civil war. Addis Ababa supports the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia backed by the UAE that has been accused of committing genocide. Eritrea and Ethiopia both back the Sudanese Armed Forces. The TPLF is also fighting alongside the Sudanese army against the RSF.

The network of states that would oppose an Ethiopian advance towards the Red Sea - Egypt, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea - all met in the Egyptian city of El Alamein on Sunday. The countries agreed to coordinate military and intelligence efforts if the war in Tigray expands, Reuters reported.

“This war is still a tussle over Tigray. It is one step away from becoming a war over the Red Sea,” the former senior western official said.

Thousands rally across Colombia against West Jerusalem embassy move

Students and activists marched through Bogota waving Palestinian flags, condemning President Abelardo de la Espriella's decision to restore diplomatic ties with Israel.

October 14, 2026

https://www.trtworld.com/article/df1376201369

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Colombia to condemn Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and the government's decision to open an embassy in West Jerusalem, marking a major shift in the country's foreign policy.

In the capital, Bogota, hundreds of students, social movement activists and other demonstrators marched through the streets waving Palestinian flags and denouncing President Abelardo de la Espriella's decision to restore diplomatic relations with Israel.

The demonstrations were part of a nationwide mobilisation against the conservative president's foreign and domestic policies, particularly his efforts to strengthen ties with Israel.

Protesters carried banners reading "We are not your backyard" and chanted slogans including "Zionists out, Abelardo out."

The protests coincided with the official opening of Colombia's embassy in West Jerusalem on Wednesday, reversing the previous administration's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Israel.

De la Espriella, who took office in August, restored ties that former President Gustavo Petro had cut in 2024 over Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.

His administration also reinstated a free trade agreement with Israel that had been suspended under Petro.

Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula attended the embassy's inauguration ceremony in West Jerusalem, describing the move as a step towards strengthening bilateral relations.

Bula said diplomatic relations between the two countries "should never have been broken."

"Israel is a strategic partner. It always has been, and from now on, it will be an even stronger one," he said.

The embassy opening represented "a concrete step towards fully restoring bilateral relations," he added.

Palestinian officials condemned the inauguration, warning that the decision undermined international law and damaged Colombia's longstanding diplomatic position on the Palestinian cause.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also condemned the move, calling it a “blatant violation of international law and relevant international resolutions.”

 

THEY WILL NOT SILENCE CRITICISM AND THE TRUTH ABOUT ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES

Google has announced a “new content policy” for Blogger—that is, for the millions of us who use the platform to disseminate ideas and information, and to criticize the powerful figures of the world who seek to continue exploiting it for their own benefit.

In this new “policy,” Google states that it will censor anyone who distributes “misleading content related to harmful conspiracy theories”—content which, according to Google, “has been debunked with solid evidence and has caused or incites violence.”

This is clearly aimed at the evidence suggesting that Israel and its intelligence services were behind the “false flag” attacks of 9/11; at the increasingly well-documented hypotheses regarding a conspiracy behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy; and even at the questions surrounding the Israeli “hero plumber” who supposedly “saved” passengers on a Fly Dubai flight from a “terrorist attack.”

Google will also censor “known violent movements and non-governmental organizations”—that is, any groups that Israel or the United States deem too critical, or that challenge the genocidal and expansionist policies of those two nations.

Google intends to establish various other restrictions, many of which align with existing international laws and regulations concerning copyright, child sexual exploitation and abuse, dangerous or illegal activities, and so on.

The reality, however, is that Israel and the United States have lost the battle over the narrative—and have lost the support of the global public—due to the genocide Israel is committing against Palestinians in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing it is carrying out in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and its war crimes against the Lebanese people. In the context of the illegal war waged by Israel and the United States against Iran, both Tel Aviv and Washington are seeking ways to control—and, above all, censor—social media, to prevent the discrediting of Israel and the United States from becoming absolute.

Consider the acquisition of TikTok and Warner by the Zionist Ellisons; consider the statements by the criminal Netanyahu, who pointed out that the “eighth front”—perhaps the most important one for Israel to fight—is that of social media and the mass media; consider Trump, who attacks every media outlet and journalist that calls out his excesses, corruption, and war crimes.

Google—along with Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and others—is part of the entire Israeli *hasbara* (propaganda) apparatus, designed to whitewash the image of the rogue, genocidal, apartheid State of Israel.

Yet, they will not succeed, because it is becoming increasingly clear to the world that Israel and its lackey, the United States, are on a path toward the destruction of the international community—all with the aim of maintaining their dominance through terror, intimidation, manipulation, and economic exploitation.

As for this blog, it will continue to disseminate critiques and the TRUTH about those governments and elites—subservient to international Zionism—that seek to maintain global dominance through force, coercion, lies, and deception.

Should this blog be censored for maintaining this editorial stance, we will seek other platforms to continue spreading the TRUTH.

For remember: THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE.

Israel’s New – and Terrifying – Security Doctrine

by Trita Parsi | Oct 13, 2026

https://tritaparsi.substack.com/p/israels-new-and-terrifying-security

If you read one thing today, make sure it is this:

In a stunning piece published by the head of one of Israel’s most prominent think tanks, Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman describes the reality of Israel’s new security doctrine:

A few crucial principles he describes:

1. The United States is a “declining power” and, given its ongoing social and political shifts, will soon abandon Israel in any event. This is compelling Israel to move toward greater self-reliance in order to avoid “excessive dependence” on the US since it “exposes Israel to the influence of a progressive American value system that is incompatible with Israel’s Jewish character.”

Then he concludes: “Severing ties with the United States is therefore not only inevitable, but essential to Israel’s independence and the resilience of its Jewish national identity.”

2. Primacy of Jewish Identity over Democracy: The state’s Jewish identity takes precedence over its democratic system of government.

3. Peace as a Means Rather Than an End: “A meaningful peace agreement is unattainable in the Middle East, as peace agreements are merely technical and temporary arrangements requiring constant reassessment. According to this view, peace is not an intrinsic value that generates security, but a means of achieving other policy objectives.”

4. “Rejection of the Independent Existence of Arab States: The underlying premise is that most Arab states are not genuine nation-states, but collections of tribes and ethnic groups lacking a shared history and a foundational national vision. Consequently, undermining their stability is viewed as a natural process, one that Israel can manage more effectively than it can contend with strong nation-states, and one that it should even encourage.”

5. “War as a Foundational State: War is essential to national security and cannot be replaced by a state of peace, which, as noted, is merely a means rather than an end…. War is necessary, and preventive war is preferable because it secures a significant achievement at the outset.”

6. “Absolute Priority for Initiative and Offense over Defense: Preemptive, surprise strikes are viewed as the only way to achieve victory, giving offense precedence over defense.”

And there’s more.

Important to note that Hayman does not advocate for this. Rather, he contends that this already is the new security doctrine of Israel.

He is describing reality as he sees it. And that reality simply is not compatible with a US or Western alliance with Israel – unless the West transforms into a similar entity that treats war as a permanent and desirable state of being.

Read the full piece here:

https://www.inss.org.il/publication/new-concept/

Mike Huckabee Should Resign

The Milstein scandal shows the ambassador undercutting American policy and the express wishes of the president.

Jason Jones

Oct 10, 2026

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/mike-huckabee-must-resign/

The New York Times reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s senior adviser, David Milstein, suppressed an embassy report and obstructed efforts by our elected representatives in Congress to obtain information. That in itself is a scandal—but it’s the gravity of the information in question that makes this story rise to the level of demanding immediate and formal accountability to American citizens. 

In March, U.S. senators wrote to Huckabee demanding answers about American citizens killed in the West Bank since January 2022. Among them were the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and Amer Rabee, who was just 14 years old. The senators said no one had been held accountable.

This cannot stand. These bereaved families cannot be asked to accept an embassy accused of actively working against their interests in order to protect the reputation of a foreign government whose soldiers and settlers killed their loved ones. And as their fellow Americans, none of the rest of us will accept it either.

No, Mike Huckabee must resign. And if he refuses, President Donald Trump must remove him from office.

The Times report cites 15 U.S. officials and dozens of documents, collectively pointing to a sustained effort to sanitize reporting about the government of the corrupt and unpopular Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The conspiracy went on despite officials elsewhere in the Trump administration—including the president himself—expressing opposition to Netanyahu’s increasingly radical actions. Milstein allegedly blocked a warning that settlement expansion could violate Trump’s opposition to West Bank annexation. Reporting on Israeli inaction against settler violence was at one point replaced with a propagandistic cable praising a crackdown.

This is much more than office politics. These are matters of life and death. When Washington receives a false picture of violence, the people enduring it lose another chance of protection in a region where time is now of the essence. Whether whole communities will remain in the land where they have lived for centuries can depend on their interests being accurately relayed to the rest of the world. Some of those communities are the ancient Christian towns of the Holy Land, where they have worshiped since the time of Christ’s ministry there. 

But thanks to the corruption and double-dealing of Huckabee’s office, when our elected representatives asked about dead American citizens, we were denied a full accounting. Even more concretely: That means families lost access to justice—and to the rights afforded to us all as American citizens.

Huckabee denies the allegations, of course, expecting far more sympathy than he has any right to expect. While he claims to have no knowledge of the scandal, officials who spoke to the Times described instances when he helped suppress or recast reporting and others when he restrained Milstein—which, far from exonerating the ambassador, only suggests to me that he was that much more familiar with his aide’s mischief.

And “mischief” is hardly the word for some of the downright sinister actions now being revealed to the public. Responsible Statecraft reported last year that an embassy cable warning of looming famine in Gaza never reached Washington; Milstein instead sent favorable reporting about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Consider what that means for a hungry child: His suffering can become invisible to the very officials with the power to intervene.

Milstein, the stepson of neoconservative talk show host Mark Levin, also circulated a wedding invitation seeking cash gifts from a guest list including Israelis. Huckabee’s very mature response to the scrutiny included calling the reporting outlet, POLITICO, “Politicrap.” An ambassador entrusted with American lives should be capable of answering serious questions with the seriousness they deserve.

Perhaps if this were the first mark against Huckabee’s character and competence, I would be writing a different column. But there have been many red flags—failures of judgment that extend far beyond Milstein. 

In July 2025, Huckabee hosted the infamous convicted traitor and Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Pollard had served 30 years for his misdeeds. The White House said it had no advance knowledge of the secret meeting. Huckabee later said he personally approved it. An ambassador willing to receive a man who betrayed American intelligence should show at least as much solicitude for the families of Americans killed abroad.

He also regularly lashes out at those—including foreign dignitaries—who oppose Israeli policies. And not just any Israeli policies, but the most contentious Israeli actions of all, including its internationally condemned backing of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

When Irish officials considered restricting trade with Israeli settlements, Huckabee reached for a drunken-Irish stereotype, asked whether they had fallen into a vat of Guinness, and ordered: “Sober up Ireland!” He wanted Ireland to apologize to Israel. American diplomacy had become a vehicle for abusing another country on the settlement movement’s behalf.

Then came his February interview with Tucker Carlson. Asked about a biblical entitlement extending from the Nile to the Euphrates, encompassing enormous stretches of neighboring Arab countries, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”

The remark drew a torrent of condemnations from throughout the Arab world, amounting to a serious international diplomatic incident. But Huckabee shrugged it off.

I called for Huckabee’s recall then. The case has only grown stronger.

His posture cannot be excused as loyalty to the administration. Trump has explicitly opposed West Bank annexation, and Vance has reiterated that policy in Israel. An embassy that withholds warnings about violations of that position would be obstructing the president it supposedly serves—to say nothing of the will of the American people, which has increasingly soured on the brutal Netanyahu regime.

The United States needs an ambassador whose concern for Israeli security does not extinguish his concern for everyone else. Huckabee’s tenure has become an obstacle to his own office’s duties. He should go, all records should be preserved, and every allegation should be independently investigated.

The families of nine Palestinian-Americans have already lost someone they love. Neither they nor the rest of us should be asked to sacrifice the truth as well. In order to reassure Americans that our citizenship means something to our government, and that our rights will not be compromised if they run up against the interests of a foreign government, Huckabee must no longer hold any power over the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Hundreds of thousands march worldwide against Israel’s genocide in Gaza

Coordinated protests demand an end to Israel’s genocide and government complicity in arming it

Elis Gjevori

Published date: 10 October 2026

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/global-protests-demand-end-israels-genocide-and-apartheid

Hundreds of thousands of people joined coordinated pro-Palestine marches worldwide on Saturday to condemn Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and stand with Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid in the occupied West Bank.

The Global Alliance for Palestine said the mobilisation involved at least 325 events worldwide, including 176 in Europe alone. 

Organisers estimated that around 250,000 people joined the London march. Demonstrators carried signs demanding the “end” of Israel’s genocide and declaring “Free Palestine” as they marched towards the British parliament.

Marchers observed a two-minute silence for the more than 74,370 Palestinians Israel has killed in Gaza since October 2023. Its attacks have wounded at least 175,371 others.

Protesters demanded that the UK government stop supplying weapons Israel uses to bomb Palestinians.

“We are here today to mark three years of the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Aimee Shalan, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told AFP.

Despite signing a ceasefire on 10 October 2025, Israel has continued killing Palestinians almost daily. Its attacks have killed more than 1,400 people since then, including at least 327 children.

In Ireland, thousands joined the country’s 21st national demonstration against Israel’s genocide since October 2023. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) organised the march.

Speaking at the demonstration, IPSC chair Zoe Lawlor called the Gaza ceasefire "an absolute fiction" and condemned Israel’s continuing restrictions on aid, fuel and food, in comments carried by Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE.

Lawlor said the Irish government was "abdicating its reasonability" towards Palestinians by "stalling and backtracking on promises to take action".

In Berlin, thousands demonstrated opposite the Federal Chancellery.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and held placards reading "Stop the occupation terror." They chanted "Free Palestine, free Palestine" and "Fuck you, Israel."

The marches followed a joint statement on Friday from more than 100 humanitarian, human rights and civil society organisations, which said the Gaza ceasefire “exists in name only with Israeli forces continuing to kill and injure Palestinians daily, and restrictions on aid, equipment and rebuilding materials preventing families from recovering.”

“It is utterly shameful that a full year after the ceasefire was signed, so little has improved for Palestinians in Gaza,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in the joint statement.

“A ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives,” said Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children.

“Nearly one child has been killed every day,” Ashing added.

Jewish supremacist parties surge in popularity among first-time Israeli voters: Poll

Young Israelis who plan to vote in the upcoming Knesset elections more strongly support the most extreme and racist political parties than do voters in the broader Israeli population

News Desk

OCT 9, 2026

https://thecradle.co/articles/jewish-supremacist-parties-surge-in-popularity-among-first-time-Israeli-voters-poll

Israel's Jewish supremacist political parties are growing in popularity among young, first-time voters ahead of this month's Knesset elections, according to a poll published by Ynet on 9 October.

The poll sampled the opinions of 543 Israeli voters aged 18 to 22.

It found that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party received the support of 8.88 percent of these voters, equivalent to 15 Knesset seats.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party enjoys the support of 8.09 percent of young voters, the equivalent of 14 seats.

If only young, first-time voters participated in the election, the two parties combined would win roughly 19 percent of the vote, or 29 Knesset seats.

In contrast, Smotrich and Ben Gvir's parties won just half that amount, 10.84 percent of the vote, for a combined 14 seats, in the 2022 elections.

Following those elections, Jewish Power and Religious Zionism joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, forming one of the most extreme governments in Israel's history.

Jewish Power and Religious Zionism enjoy strong support among religious nationalist Jews who advocate for the violent expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.

They support the construction of illegal settlements and outposts as part of a broader campaign to colonize the Palestinian territories with Israeli Jews and create Greater Israel.

Many of the estimated 500,000 new voters in next month's elections have participated directly in the genocide in Gaza as conscripts in the Israeli army.

Both Jewish Power and Religious Zionism outperformed Netanyahu's Likud in the new poll. Likud received 7.95 percent of support among young voters, the equivalent of 14 seats.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett's Together alliance also polled well among young voters, receiving 8.98 percent, or 16 seats.

The Yashar party of opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who is seeking to oust Netanyahu as prime minister, received 8.75 percent, enough for 15 seats.

The Joint List, made up of parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, received 5.23 percent, enough for nine seats.

Ben Gvir's Jewish Power and Smotrich's Religious Zionism will participate in an alliance in next month's elections with the Amcha Yisrael (People of Israel) party, led by former army general Ofer Winter.

The alliance is expected to do well among all Israeli voters in the Knesset elections. 

A survey published on Friday by the Israeli newspaper Maariv projected that the three Jewish Supremacist parties would win a combined 18 Knesset seats, four more than in the 2022 election.