Israel's rightward political shift began in the 2009 general election, when the far-right National Union alliance, which advocated for the expulsion of Arabs, won parliamentary seats for the first time in about 20 years. According to postal scholar Yosuke Naito, Prime Minister Netanyahu initially did not include far-right lawmakers such as Eldad and Ben-Ari in his cabinet, using them as a foil to assert his own moderation to the international community. However, fearing a loss of his support base, he gradually intensified right-wing rhetoric, accelerating the overall rightward drift of the political landscape. The National Union submitted bills like the Loyalty Law and the NGO Regulation Law, repeatedly stoking public opinion with exclusionary rhetoric, and Ben-Ari's parliamentary speeches even prompted other parties to stage walkouts. These developments unfolded against a backdrop of complex factors, including the situation in Hamas-controlled Gaza and the 2008-2009 Gaza offensive launched with an eye on the incoming Obama administration.