Forty years back, when the radical rabbi Meir Kahane captured one seat in Israel's parliament, fellow lawmakers introduced rules to bar his future runs, walked out during his addresses and joined forces to sideline his nationalist ideas.

His suggestions included large-scale removals of Palestinians along with segregation rules such as separate beaches and bans on relations between Jews and non-Jews.

This month, Kahane's successors could secure more parliamentary seats than the remnants of the once-dominant Labor party, once home to leaders like Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Golda Meir.

At a campaign event this week, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir blended calls for population transfers and remarks about depriving Palestinian detainees with a boast about his 1998 conviction tied to stickers declaring "Rabbi Kahane was right".

A survey for Israel Hayom, released on Friday, projected his Jewish Strength party would take nine seats in the 27 October vote. The Democrats, the Labor successor under ex-general Yair Golan, were forecast to win eight.

Ben-Gvir's ascent reflects one sharp example of a wider move rightward among Israel's Jewish population. The trend stands out among younger voters and will influence the next government, no matter who leads after the tight race.

Over 500,000 Israelis have become eligible since 2022, and three-quarters of first-time Jewish voters identify as right or centre-right, according to a recent Channel 12 poll (which excluded Palestinian citizens).

These new voters grew up after the Oslo framework faded and hopes for negotiated peace dimmed. They entered their teens amid the October 2023 Hamas attacks that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza, sparking a prolonged crisis.

"Many, especially the young, believe the conflict cannot be resolved and that war will persist. Racism and hatred exist, yet fear dominates," said Erez Uzan, vice-chair of the Young Democrats.

Unlike global patterns, younger Israelis lean more right than their elders and will likely deliver a parliament with additional conservative members, noted analyst Dahlia Scheindlin.

Ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist groups, reliably conservative, form a growing share of the Jewish population but remain roughly a quarter of voters, so numbers alone fail to account for the age divide.

"Young people have known only a right-leaning government and a debate framed in populist, nationalist terms. That shapes their views," Scheindlin said. "Democracy, shared values and rights receive little attention and are often dismissed as weak or disloyal. Few leaders discuss peace, compromise or Palestinian rights."

Most surveys show Netanyahu's current alliance with ultra-Orthodox and far-right partners will fall short of the 61 seats required for a majority.

The opposition could govern via ties to parties of Palestinian citizens, yet the rightward drift has led most Jewish-led groups to reject such partnerships, though past pledges have shifted post-election.

On Palestine issues, few diverge from Netanyahu's focus on military control and territorial expansion from Gaza into Syria and Lebanon.

Historic accords with Jordan and Egypt, once viewed as major threats, rarely appear as models for stability in current debate.

Campaigns instead highlight corruption fights, accountability for the 2023 attacks, school improvements and ending draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

Leading contender Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief, developed the Dahiya approach of applying overwhelming force to inflict heavy damage.

Naftali Bennett, ex-prime minister and settler council head, backs annexing large West Bank areas. Avigdor Lieberman seeks to end the Palestinian Authority in favor of an Israeli-Jordanian arrangement without Jordanian input.

No Jewish-led party supports a Palestinian state, and only the Democrats oppose settlement growth, per Yedioth Ahronoth after reviewing positions on the occupied West Bank.

Eisenkot's Yashar party vows to bolster settlements, which Israeli law permits though international rules prohibit them.

The Democrats, the main remaining option for the Zionist left under Golan, a former general who aided civilians during the 2023 attacks, reject a two-state outcome and promote centrist policies by European standards. Yet the rightward shift has led to physical and verbal attacks on their activists, labeled as extremists.

Right-wing assailants recently targeted Democrats volunteers at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, striking and spitting while police observed.

The incidents led the party to prepare campaigners in de-escalation tactics, said Uzan.

Global far-right gains occur, but Israel's ongoing conflict amplifies ethnonationalist appeals, Uzan noted.

"Fear and repeated wars shape perspectives. Centre-left leaders long avoided security topics, ceding them to the right," he said, while noting efforts to discuss past peace deals with Egypt and Jordan that brought stability.

Progress is gradual yet visible, with thousands of active young members exceeding other parties' youth engagement.

Comedian and activist Lior Schleien holds talks with young groups on the limits of seeking total victory in prolonged conflicts, sharing clips of teens endorsing mass expulsion or killing of Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir excels on social media with content like AI videos on population transfers that draw youth attention second only to Netanyahu.

Allies like finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader who urged wiping out Gaza and vowed to block a Palestinian state, match the extremism. For this vote, Smotrich allied with Moshe Feiglin, who pushes mass Palestinian removal and a temple on the al-Aqsa site.

The far-right surge, religious zeal and Netanyahu's challenges to democratic safeguards have made the vote feel critical for many on the centre and left, given the occupation's impact on Palestinians without citizenship rights.

David Harel of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities warns the path leads to a corrupt, isolated state under fundamentalists enforcing harsh control.

"Time is short. Lose this chance and recovery fades. The nation we cherish risks ending," he urged at a Haifa rally, calling on voters to participate.