The enemy within us: emotional politics in the 2015 Israeli elections

Voting behaviour is often constructed by candidates’ ability to manipulate and set in motion voters’ social ‘nervous system’ by means of juxtaposing two social groups – ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’ – against one another. In the Israeli political arena, this means a sociopolitical ‘zero sum’ game between the right wing and the left wing. The present article seeks to decode the characteristics of right-wing vs. left-wing cognitive metaphors activated in the 2015 Israeli elections. Findings indicate that both sides sought to activate cultural schemes based on a sense of local belonging and social identity, with the emotional discourse focused on identifying and excluding internal enemies (i.e. those who are not ‘us’ or belong to ‘our group’).