Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has become ideologically inseparable from its far-right coalition partner Otzma Yehudit, Israeli and Palestinian politicians and analysts told The New Arab , after a Likud minister publicly acknowledged there were "not many ideological differences" between the two parties.
For Ofer Cassif, a Knesset member from the left-wing Palestinian-Jewish Hadash party, the remarks simply confirmed what many have warned for years.
"It explicitly confirms what I and my companions have tracked down for years: the total blurring of lines between the Likud and the fascist racist fringe, cementing a long-term shift that has systematically replaced the party's old roots with hardline, populist extremism," he told The New Arab .
"It is Netanyahu who intentionally got rid of old, relatively moderate, 'Likudnics', and substituted them for extremists, of whom May Golan is one of the worst," he added.
Amjad Iraqi, Senior Analyst on Israel and Palestine at the International Crisis Group, also told The New Arab that Likud had undergone a profound ideological shift over recent years.
Although Likud and Otzma Yehudit emerged from different political traditions, he said they are now "bound together by certain core consensus, ideologically, politically, strategically."
"It's no accident, you know, that the current governing coalition has been able to still stay intact… because a lot of the ideological consensus does hold them all together."
Despite occasional political disagreements, particularly over tactics, Iraqi said that on policy towards Palestinians "there is a kindred spirit between these two, between these multiple parties now."
The comments came after Israel's Minister for Social Equality, May Golan, told Channel 14 on Saturday that "there are not many ideological differences between Otzma Yehudit and Likud", according to Haaretz .
"I don't know what they're selling you, but there really aren't many differences. I think Ben-Gvir would say the same," she added.
Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) is a far-right party rooted in Kahanism, the anti-Palestinian, Jewish supremacist ideology developed by Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the party advocates the annexation of the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Ben-Gvir has repeatedly come under fire for anti-Palestinian rhetoric and was previously convicted of incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation.
In 2026, Ben-Gvir sponsored legislation allowing Israel to execute Palestinians convicted of terrorism. During the campaign for the bill, he wore a yellow noose in reference to the yellow ribbons symbolising Israeli captives held in Gaza before celebrating its passage by drinking champagne.
Amid speculation over tensions between Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu, Golan also stressed the close relationship between the two.
"Ben-Gvir absolutely needs to be with us," she said.
"I've never heard Netanyahu say he does not want Ben-Gvir."
"I know he appreciates Ben-Gvir, and they have both personal and political ties. Ben-Gvir is part of the right-wing camp, whether everyone likes it or not."
Netanyahu recently criticised Ben-Gvir over his treatment of pro-Palestinian detainees from the Global Sumud Flotilla while simultaneously speaking of forming a "broad government" after the next elections.
Founded in 1973 by former prime ministers Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon as an alliance of secular centre-right and right-wing parties, Likud predated the emergence of Kahanism. One of its founding factions grew out of the Irgun paramilitary organisation active during the British Mandate in Palestine.
Iraqi said the party had steadily shifted rightwards over the past two decades, bringing it closer to positions once associated only with extremist parties.
Likud lawmakers, including Golan, have also joined far-right settler activists calling for the resettlement of Gaza, including at a conference near the enclave during Israel's assault in 2024.
Sami Abou Shehadeh, leader of the Palestinian nationalist Balad party, said the issue extended beyond Ben-Gvir himself.
"The problem is not just the racist and terrorist Itamar Ben Gvir."
"The problem is that this Ben Gvir is a minister in the Israeli government, which means that a majority within the Israeli Knesset deals with Ben Gvir, [Bezalel] Smotrich and all these extreme racists as legitimate players within Israeli politics," he told The New Arab .
"We are talking about extremists who are ministers inside the Israeli government, which means that there's a majority that deals with them as legitimate players," he said.