There is a long line in front of the cinema in Jerusalem, but not for the film. Religiously dressed Jewish men almost push each other to join the far-right Jewish Power Party. Tonight there is a speech by party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir in the big cinema, and a lot of people come.

Things are going well, says Sally Yagiv, who sits at a long table handing out party passes to all new members. “Everyone is excited to see what Itamar will say tonight,” she says. Many party members walk around here with his face on their T-shirts, including one of his nicknames: “the infamous IBG“, or the infamous Itamar Ben-Gvir. And that’s not saying too much.

For a long time, the party leader was considered by almost all Israelis to be a crazy extremist. For example, in his living room he had a framed photo of Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians in an attack. He was also convicted several times, including for inciting racism. But now it is part of the political order.

If former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc wins a majority on Tuesday, Jewish Power is likely to enter the government. Together with the also very conservative Religious Zionism, with which it has a list connection, the alliance is now directly behind the two largest parties in the polls.

“pure racism”

It’s a nightmare for a group of counter-protesters. “This is not Zionism or Judaism, this is pure racism,” said Anton Goodman. Although Ben-Gvir has moderated his tone, he still advocates the deportation of Arab citizens “against the State of Israel.”

But there is nothing racist about that, says Mordechai Frisis, who has been a member of Jewish Power for over ten years. “We want Israel to be a proud Jewish country,” he says. “People of other faiths, such as Arabs, are also welcome, but only if they accept that Jews are in charge here.”

The rise of parties like Jewish Power is not unique as Israel moves further to the right, says researcher Or Anabi of the Israeli Institute for Democracy: “In the past, 40 percent of the country thought they were right, now it’s 62 percent. Among young people it is even 70 percent. At the same time, only 11 percent see themselves as left-wing. That means a huge change in politics.”

Average of seven children

This shift to the right is partly due to the child rate, Anabi says. “The ultra-Orthodox community is almost entirely part of the right-wing bloc. And ultra-Orthodox Jewish women have up to seven children, while secular women have only two or three children. So the right is likely to continue growing for some time to come.”

But that’s not the whole story, as Ben-Gvir is now scoring much better than a year and a half ago. In the meantime, there have been many acts of violence between Jewish and Arab citizens in mixed-population cities, especially in May last year. Since then, the attitude of Jewish Israelis towards Arabs has deteriorated, says researcher Anabi: “A majority now believes that both population groups should live separately. Ben-Gvir benefits from that.”

The accession to power of the Arab party Ra’am also encouraged this mood. The Arab Party’s entry into the center-left bloc has created a majority against former Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc. That too is a reason for the right to resist cooperation with Arabs, a position Ben-Gvir embodies like no other.

“Death to the Terrorists”

Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir has now climbed onto the podium. “Death to the terrorists!” screams the crowd. A few people shouting “Death to the Arabs” are called back. “We don’t hate Arabs,” corrected Ben-Gvir, “but if someone throws a Molotov cocktail, we throw them out of the country.”

It’s part of moderating the tone of the party. But that doesn’t mean Ben-Gvir is jettisoning his style: this month he drew a different weapon when confronting rock-throwing Palestinians. There is no reason for Netanyahu’s Likud party not to work with Ben-Gvir. Should the right-wing bloc win a majority, Ben-Gvir could become a minister in the next Israeli government.