The world is watching Israel’s election while ignoring the Palestinian one - opinion

AUGUST 28, 2026 23:42When I brief diplomats, foreign journalists, and visiting dignitaries on the nuances behind the scenes of the October 27 election, they are usually the ones who ask the questions, and I do my best to provide the answers.But there is one question I make sure to ask them: “Are you paying as close attention to the particulars of what’s happening with the upcoming Palestinian elections?”I ask that, in part, because there is plenty being reported about our election that doesn’t make Israel look particularly good. This is not the first election where our politicians look to score points with constituents without taking into account how bad it looks abroad, but they have been especially careless lately, and it’s not the international media’s fault for noticing, doing their job, and telling the world.The foreign press has reported extensively on Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir recently, specifically focusing on his calls for nightly killings of terrorists in Gaza, his advocacy for the death penalty, his actions regarding the Temple Mount, and the resulting global condemnations.“Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a gloating video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offenses – but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes – will be hanged,” The Guardian reported in an article that passed the test and scrutiny of pro-Israel media watchdogs.YAIR NETANYAHU arrives for a hearing at his request for a restraining order against ‘Haaretz’ journalist Uri Misgav, at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, July 15. (credit: FLASH90)The Los Angeles Times had a headline “Israel’s Ben-Gvir publicly advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ people in Gaza nightly.” You can blame the newspaper for using the word “people” when he clearly meant terrorists, not innocent civilians.But it was Ben-Gvir himself who referred to “people not worthy of life” and added, “They are not even people. I am giving them a compliment by calling them people.”Defense Minister Israel Katz suddenly became a household name internationally when he was running in the Likud primary and tried to impress hawkish party members before he accepted a reserved slot. The Telegraph reported on his campaign videos that “celebrated airstrikes,” noting their repeated use of the word “boom.” ABC News and the Associated Press were among the media outlets that covered his announcements about expanding operations in Gaza.The Turkey expert Fox News quoted in an article about recent threats from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz said: “Turkey is chalking up the increasingly escalatory climate between Turkey and Israel to election antics/propaganda by Netanyahu.”Tough talk is not the purview of only one side of the political map. Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot’s definitive statement rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state last Saturday was picked up by several international media outlets, which reported his comments as a major development in the lead-up to an election being portrayed internationally as one candidate who is too right-wing against another who is even more too right-wing.Al Jazeera’s Simon Speakman Cordall questioned Israel’s ability to maintain its democracy, in a story headlined “Concerns Mount over Integrity of Israel’s Upcoming October elections.”Articles exclude Palestinian elections from coverageThe article did not mention that the Palestinians are set to have an election a month later, and that if any democracy should be questioned, it’s theirs. After all, they haven’t had a parliamentary election since January 2006, and a presidential election a year before that.Palestinian political expert Khaled Abu Toameh said the Palestinian race deserves the same scrutiny by the international media as Israel’s, but it isn’t getting it.“The foreign media is not paying enough attention to the preparations for the Palestinian election as much as they are paying attention to the Israeli election,” he lamented. “They talk about Ben-Gvir and radicals in Israel, but no one is covering Hamas and asking why they’re even allowed to run. If you ignore them, they’ll repeat their victory of 2006. They need to start sounding the alarm bells about that now.”Abu Toameh said he advises foreign media to pay attention to recent meetings in Cairo that worked on an “abnormal alliance” among a purported reformist in Mohammad Dahlan, Hamas, the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups.“This is the exact opposite of deradicalization,” Abu Toameh warned. “It’s empowering jihadists and terrorists responsible for Oct. 7.”He said recent polls predicting a massive victory for convicted mass murderer Marwan Barghouti in the presidential election set for 2027 “speak volumes about the sentiments in Palestinian society.”No less of a problem, the fact that more than 200 international cultural figures signed a petition calling for “Freedom for Marwan” indicates that the international media is not educating the world about who this unrepentant terrorist leader really is.The list of signatories has the usual suspects like notoriously antisemitic actor Mark Ruffalo. But it also includes Jewish singer Paul Simon, who has come here and spoken fondly of the Jewish state.Abu Toameh said he noticed Arabic media outlets promoting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s son Yasser as a potential successor and rising star since Yasser won a recent election to the central committee of the Fatah Party, which his father leads.“They are not treating him as Yair Netanyahu is treated,” he said. “They are elevating his status as a respected leader. This is what makes the PA discredited among its people and strengthens Hamas.”A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll published this week found that 79% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign, so if the presidential election actually takes place, someone else will apparently take over and potentially stay in office for a very long time, like Abbas and Yasser Arafat before him.The dangers of Barghouti or Hamas head Khalil al-Hayya being elected and taking control cannot be understated.That means that while our elections are undoubtedly important, the Palestinian election could end up being significantly more consequential and fateful for the future of Israel, the wider Middle East, and the world.The time has come for the international media to widen its microscope, which tends to be focused exclusively on Israel.The writer served as the chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post and executive director of HonestReporting and has lectured about Israel in all 50 US states.Follow us on Google