Compare two parties

Origins. Likud was founded in 1973 as a coalition around Menachem Begin's Herut — itself the heir of Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionism. It won the 1977 Israeli election ending three decades of Labor dominance and has been the dominant Israeli right-wing party ever since. Hamas was founded in December 1987 during the First Intifada by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood; its 1988 charter framed Palestinian liberation as a religious-Islamic duty.

Where they diverge. Almost every axis. On the legitimacy of the other state: Likud's 1999 platform "flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state"; Hamas's 1988 charter and 2017 General Principles both reject the legitimacy of "the Zionist entity." On territory: both make maximalist claims to the same land between the river and the sea. On religion-and-state: Likud anchors a religious-nationalist Jewish coalition; Hamas is a Sunni Islamist movement applying religious framing to nationalism. On acceptable methods: Likud as the governing party uses state military force; Hamas as an armed group has used suicide attacks, rocket fire, and on 7 October 2023 a cross-border massacre — the precipitating event of the current Gaza war.

Where they overlap. A surprising amount of structural similarity. Both are nationalist projects that frame their conflict in existential and quasi-religious terms. Both reject the two-state solution as Western diplomats describe it. Both have ridden their respective conflicts to the right and toward more religious-conservative coalitions over the past two decades.

Why it matters today. This pair is the war. Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition has fought a war in Gaza against Hamas since 7 October 2023 in which approximately 60,000 Palestinians have been killed and a generation of children injured. Almost every other comparison in this corpus is downstream of this one.