The Peculiar Victory of The National Camp in the 2013 Israeli Election Arie Perliger a * and Eran Zaidise b a Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, USA; b Department of Political Science, Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel This article argues that attempts to characterize the outcome of the elections to the 19th Knesset as a defeat of the Israeli right are misleading. By using a three-dimensional analysis of the ideological makeup of the Knesset, based on the ideological manifestos of the parties, the socio-demographic profiles of Knesset members and analyses of election results utilizing electoral data and socio-demographic data obtained from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the article claims that the 19th Knesset is no less right- leaning than its predecessor. Hence, contrary to some commentators in both the media and academia, the 2013 elections represent a true landmark for the settlers. For the first time since the movement appeared in the 1970s, it managed to obtain a solid base in the Knesset. Keywords: 19th Knesset; Israeli right; Israeli elections 2013; far right; settlers movement That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes: 1, 9) It was disorienting to observe the coverage of the elections for the 19th Knesset through the eyes of the international media. Prior to the elections, media outlets all over the world were reporting about the ‘radical right-wing tide’ and displayed concern that the new cabinet would be extremely hawkish. Once the first exit polls were aired, pre-eminent pundits like Aaron David Miller released a sigh of relief. 1 The new consensus was that Israel had ‘changed its course’. As Israelis who monitored the elections very closely, we were puzzled. The media in the United States and Europe had little interest in domestic political issues such as the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox youths to the IDF, or the economic difficulties of the middle class. They were preoccupied with one issue: the potential effect of the elections on the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. The flood of commentaries regarding the ‘unique opportunity for a renewal of the peace process’ made us feel like we were following a different story altogether. In this article, we aim to bridge the perceptual gap between the new government’s image in the international press and the traits and makeup of its members and voters. q 2015 Taylor & Francis *Corresponding author. Email: aperliger@gmail.com Israel Affairs, 2015 Vol. 21, No. 2, 195–208, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537121.2015.1008243