The Reservists

Formal commitment: The party's platform says Israel's strength rests on a free economy and on encouraging competition. It promises to fight monopolies "by breaking up or limiting the power of dominant bodies", to set up a civilian task force with legal powers to remove barriers to doing business, and to have the government announce three measurable economic reforms each year and report on them to the Knesset Economy Committee ^[8]. It also proposes shifting budgets "from the public that evades service to the public that serves", and using military or national service as a main criterion for discounts on daycare, mortgages, municipal tax (arnona), the subsidized-housing program and income-tax credits ^[8].

Formal commitment: The August 2026 "Magen David" (Shield of David) plan, presented with former partner Chili Tropper, committed to lowering the cost of living by encouraging competition, breaking up monopolies and concentration, giving targeted support to working parents and reservists, reducing regulation, opening the economy to imports and removing trade barriers, and cutting insurance premiums by fighting car theft ^{[43, 44, 45]}.

Statement: On forming the joint list in September 2026, Hendel said his partnership with Zelekha joins "Yaron Zelekha, who comes to break the monopolies that make it expensive to live here," with "the Reservists, who fight the political monopolies" ^[46]. Zelekha, the joint-list partner, said on September 16, 2026 that the list would demand the Finance Ministry, and that his first steps would be cancelling customs duties and import quotas, barring local monopolies from controlling imports, and re-enacting a law against monopolies charging excessive prices ^[14]. In October 2026 Hendel tied the cost of living to reservists, saying the people who serve hundreds of reserve days are the same people struggling with mortgages, housing and supermarket prices ^[6].

Closest option(s): Open the market to more competition and imports, and break up dominant companies (open-market-competition-imports), with targeted help for people who serve (an element of direct-support-for-households aimed only at those who serve).

Formal commitment: The party calls crime in Arab society "the eighth front" and published a "10-point plan" for it ^[47]. The plan includes: a new Shin Bet division to fight crime in Arab society, making this one of the Shin Bet's core missions with intelligence and operational units; local police forces under mayors, supervised by the national police and with full policing powers, including the power to demolish illegal buildings; minimum sentences and treating shootings, illegal weapons and agricultural crime as serious offenses; a new authority in the National Security Ministry to coordinate the police, Shin Bet, Finance and Interior ministries against economic crime, money laundering, illegal construction and illegal weapons; more judges in local courts and special courts for weapons and agricultural crime; a NIS 50,000 grant for discharged soldiers who serve two years in the police; an amendment to the "Dromi law" (Israel's law on self-defense against intruders) stating that any intrusion at night into the private property "of a citizen carrying a weapon" counts as a danger to life, allowing action in self-defense; enforcement against polygamy; and a national goal of settlement and a Jewish majority in the Negev and Galilee, including new Druze communities ^[47]. The general platform also says the Shin Bet should lead enforcement "until the police are rebuilt", calls for treating shooting incidents, illegal weapons and agricultural crime "as terror", and calls for more police stations in the Negev, the Galilee and Arab society ^[8].

Formal commitment: The August 2026 plan likewise promised a Shin Bet division against crime in Arab society and a governance authority under the National Security Ministry ^{[43, 45]}. In August 2026 the party, then allied with Tropper, said it would demand the National Security Ministry for Hendel ^{[7, 44]}.

Statement: Hendel said in August 2026 that "there is a Wild West in the Arab sector" and that one of his main goals is "to dismantle the autonomies" ^[44]. In July 2026 he said his biggest fear is Israel breaking up into "autonomies without governance", pointing to the Negev and the Galilee ^[22].

The party's published plans do not mention holding suspects without trial, and they do not include a separate development-investment plan for Arab communities.

Closest option(s): Use extraordinary measures, bringing the Shin Bet into the fight against crime organizations (emergency-powers-shin-bet). The party's plan also adds many police resources, but it has not addressed detention without trial.

Formal commitment: The party's platform says "a terror state will not rise again on our doorstep" and calls for: full Israeli control along the perimeter, on the high ground overlooking Israeli communities and on the Philadelphi corridor (the strip along the Gaza-Egypt border); a "Judea and Samaria model" of freedom of action, meaning the army keeps the right to make arrests, destroy infrastructure and stop attacks inside Gaza because "our enemies' nature is to break agreements"; "exacting a price" in the perimeter up to the "yellow line", where the land would be farmed by the Israeli communities near Gaza; and a government office for voluntary emigration "to allow Gaza residents who want to, to emigrate to other countries" ^[8]. The platform says Israel should rely only on itself for security ^[8].

Statement: In March 2024, during the war, Hendel proposed moving Gaza's civilian population into a secured, closed tent city with screening, so that the army could fight in Rafah; Walla described the plan as moving about 1.5 million Gaza residents into a secured compound inside Israeli territory, in the south of the country. He said the goal was "destroying Hamas's center of mass and demilitarizing the Strip" ^[19]. In April 2025 he wrote that to prevent another massacre Israel must "sit there, create a buffer and exact a price", and "take territory" ^[48]. In October 2026 he said Israel must keep holding strategic points and high ground, which requires enough soldiers ^[6].

The Jerusalem Post reported in September 2026 that no detailed Gaza policy had been published for the joint list ^[49]. The party's platform does not address the US plan's international force or a new Palestinian administration, and does not call for rebuilding Israeli communities inside Gaza.

Closest option(s): Keep Israeli forces in place and keep security in Israel's own hands, without relying on foreign forces (hold-positions-disarmament-first), combined with encouraging voluntary emigration, an element of resume-fighting-full-control. The evidence is mixed, because the party has not said whether it supports going back to full-scale war.

This is the party's central issue.

Formal commitment: The platform says every Israeli citizen ("secular and religious, Jews and Arabs") will serve at 18, in the army or in civilian service, under "an equal enlistment law for all" ^[8]. It calls for one enlistment authority that sorts people into army or civilian service, service frameworks suited to the Haredi way of life, yeshivas on the front lines, more national-service tracks for Arab society, and temporary exemptions only after a test for outstanding Torah scholars, outstanding academics and top athletes ^[8]. The sanctions it lists for people who do not serve are: losing the right to vote and to be elected, losing tax and arnona discounts, losing state allowances, losing a driver's license, a ban on leaving the country and exclusion from public-sector jobs; education budgets would go only to institutions whose students serve ^[8].

Statement (party's written answer): In September 2026 the joint list told Ynet that every citizen would report to the enlistment office, with army service given priority, and that, apart from medical exemptions, those who do not serve would face sanctions and lose state benefits ^[50].

Formal commitment: Passing a law requiring service for all before a government is formed is one of the two founding conditions of the joint list ^{[12, 46]}. The party also limits party membership to people who have done military or national service ^{[5, 51]}.

Statement: Hendel said in November 2025 that whoever chooses not to serve "chooses to be a second-class citizen" and would get nothing from the state and could not run for the Knesset ^{[5, 51]}. He called the exemption bill advanced in 2025 by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Boaz Bismuth "a catastrophe" and "an evasion law" ^{[5, 20]}. In October 2026 he said that institutions that teach students not to serve "should not get a shekel from the state", and suggested yeshivas in the Jordan Valley and on the Egyptian border that combine Torah study with service ^[6]. In August 2026 he pointed to separate frameworks for Haredi soldiers, such as the Netzah Yehuda battalion and the Hashmonaim Brigade, as working solutions ^[52]. Zelekha, the joint-list partner, said Jews should serve in the army except for a few hundred genuine Torah prodigies, and Arab citizens should do national service in public services ^[14].

Action: In May 2026 the party set up a "Council of Torah Sages" of rabbis who served in the army or reserves, which issued a religious ruling calling for enlistment as part of a "commanded war" ^[53].

Change over time: From June 2021 to December 2022 Hendel was a minister in the government that advanced a bill lowering the age at which yeshiva students are exempted from service from 24 to 21; it passed its first reading 51–48 on January 31, 2022, and was described as a temporary step ^{[23, 68]}. Hendel was not a Knesset member then and did not vote on it ^[23]. His party's platform now calls for one enlistment law for all, with sanctions ^[8]. No statement by Hendel about the 2022 bill was found.

Closest option(s): Require every 18-year-old, including Haredim, to serve in the army or civilian national service, with exemptions only for a small number of outstanding Torah scholars and loss of state benefits for those who refuse (universal-service-with-sanctions). The party's proposed sanctions go further than that option, including loss of the right to vote.

The party has not published a dedicated housing plan. Its housing-related commitments are mostly benefits for people who serve and moving population out of the center.

Formal commitment: The platform proposes giving land to reservists in national-priority areas, using service as a main criterion for mortgage discounts and for the subsidized-housing program (Mechir LaMishtaken), and subsidizing rent and insurance for reservists during and around their reserve service ^[8]. The August 2026 plan promised significant subsidies for buying land for those who serve ^{[43, 45]}. The platform also offers large corporate-tax breaks to technology companies that employ about 70% of their staff in the Negev, the Galilee or the Jordan Valley ^[8].

Statement: In October 2026 Hendel said he wants to build new communities, at first for reservists, and to "move the population from the center to the Negev, the Galilee and the Jordan Valley, as far east as possible, as a huge national project" ^[6].

Closest option(s): Direct help for buyers, aimed at people who served (direct-help-for-buyers), combined with developing the periphery (develop-periphery-and-transport). The evidence is limited, because the party has not addressed building permits, rental regulation or overall housing supply.

Formal commitment: The platform calls for an "aggressive security policy that moves the decision to enemy territory", replacing containment with initiative and offense ^[8]. On Iran, it says the earlier Operation Rising Lion against Iran "proved intelligence and air superiority but left Iran with offensive capabilities. The mission is not finished. Israel cannot contain Iran with the means and intention over time" ^[8]. On Hezbollah, it says that if Hezbollah is not disarmed under the agreement, a campaign should be opened to disarm it and take the commanding ridges in Lebanon; it calls for full control of the high ridges in Lebanon and the Hermon peak, and for regional cooperation to weaken the Iranian axis ^[8]. It also calls for strengthening Israel's own arms industry to reduce dependence on others ^[8].

Statement: On March 2, 2026, during Operation Roaring Lion against Iran, Hendel said: "We are in a war to remove an existential threat… Israel needs to destroy Iran's military capabilities and nuclear infrastructure and do everything possible to stabilize an alternative regime." He said Israel had for years "preferred quiet over military initiative", which led to October 7 ^[54]. On May 7, 2026 he said "we have not finished the job in Lebanon" ^[55]. In October 2026 he praised operations in Lebanon and holding strategic positions, and said Israel should keep holding the high ridges ^[6].

Action: As a minister in October 2022, Hendel abstained in the government vote on the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Lebanon, after earlier saying he would not vote for it. He said he had concluded the deal did not harm Israeli sovereignty in its territorial waters and had US guarantees ^{[56, 57]}.

Closest option(s): Keep attacking Iran, Hezbollah and their allies until they can no longer threaten Israel, and stay on the high ground in Lebanon (military-pressure-until-threats-removed). The platform's call for regional cooperation is a smaller element of force-plus-us-backed-agreements.

Formal commitment: The platform promises to "act to prevent a Palestinian state in diplomatic channels" and to strengthen settlement on the commanding ridges ^[8]. Under the heading "sovereignty through deeds", it calls for strengthening settlement in Judea and Samaria and for "winning the struggle" over land in Area C (the part of Judea and Samaria under full Israeli control), making the Jordan Valley a national settlement goal, and using individual farms and grazing land to hold territory ^[8].

Statement (party's written answer): In September 2026 the joint list told Ynet: "We support settlement in all the areas of the State of Israel. The strategy is taking commanding areas and agricultural land." On future evacuation as part of an agreement: "No. Everything that went up with the approval of the state and the army will stay." On sovereignty: "The party supports sovereignty through deeds, not words. If it is possible to apply law, for example to the Jordan Valley, the [settlement] bloc or another strategic area… we will support it." On illegal Palestinian building in Area C: "Strict enforcement, full removal." On illegal outposts: those approved by the army stay; those built without approval on private land are removed ^[58].

Statement: Hendel told the Jerusalem Post in 2026: "We will not allow a Palestinian state to be established," and that Israel must control the high ground and ensure settlement in Judea and Samaria ^[7]. In October 2026 he said he supports settlement in Judea and Samaria and the "farms project" (individual farms on open land) ^[6]. In January 2022, as a minister, he said "you don't build settlements as a response to attacks; you build settlements as a strategy" ^[21].

Closest option(s): Apply Israeli sovereignty to key areas such as the Jordan Valley (partial-sovereignty-area-c), together with continued settlement and army freedom of action, which are elements of maintain-current-situation. The party opposes a Palestinian state.

Formal commitment: The platform promises "corrections in the justice system under broad agreements and in a joint public process", and to set out each branch's status and responsibility in law ^[8]. It lists: external, independent review of the justice system; splitting the role of the attorney general (who is currently both the government's legal adviser and head of public prosecution); a "Basic Law: Legislation" to regulate relations between the government, the Knesset and the courts; a term limit for prime ministers; and fewer government ministries ^[8]. When the party was founded in September 2025 it described its approach as changes to the judicial system by broad agreement rather than imposed changes ^[3].

Statement (party's written answer): In September 2026 the joint list told Ynet: "We are in favor of changes in the justice system." It said the first step is a Basic Law: Legislation; Knesset members should set a "balanced" make-up for the committee that selects judges; the Knesset should be able to override a Supreme Court ruling that cancels a law only with a special majority of more than 72 of its 120 members; the "reasonableness" ground (the courts' power to cancel government decisions they find extremely unreasonable) should be narrowed but not cancelled; and Basic Laws should need at least 61 votes to pass, as part of an overall reform ^[59]. The August 2026 plan with Tropper spoke of a "Zionist constitution", changing the system of government, "responsible correction" of the justice system and strengthening the rule of law ^{[43, 45]}.

Statement: In September 2022 Hendel wrote that there is "a normal right in Israel that does not seek to destroy the justice system but to fix it" ^[67]. Ynetnews described him at the time as positioning himself on the "liberal right-wing" and rejecting Likud's combative stance against the legal system ^[29].

Closest option(s): Set the powers of each branch through a broadly agreed basic law, with a limited Knesset override (broad-agreed-constitutional-framework). Some elements, such as splitting the attorney general's role and giving the Knesset a say in the judges' committee, overlap with continue-judicial-changes.

Formal commitment: A commission of inquiry into October 7 is one of the party's three founding conditions ^[2]. The platform says Israel must investigate "all the failures" that led to the October 7 attack, and adds: "The word 'state' [mamlachtit] has become an excuse not to investigate. It is time to investigate" ^[8]. In November 2025 Hendel called for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 failures ^{[5, 51]}.

Action: On October 15, 2025 the party called for a state commission of inquiry to be set up immediately and proposed nine possible members, saying an agreed commission could be formed "within a day": Justice Noam Sohlberg, Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, Prof. Suzie Navot, former minister Yuval Steinitz, former MK Einat Wilf, Prof. Yuval Elbashan, Miriam Peretz, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoram Yair and former justice minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann ^{[38, 60]}. On October 16, 2025 it wrote to President Isaac Herzog asking him to host talks with the justice system and all parties to agree on the commission's make-up, so that it would win broad public trust ^{[38, 61]}.

Statement (party's written answer): In October 2026 the joint list told Ynet: "In favor of a state commission of inquiry. It is preferable to reach a composition by broad agreement. Who will appoint it? The Supreme Court, preferably Sohlberg" ^[62], referring to Justice Noam Sohlberg, whom the party had also proposed as a commission member in 2025 ^[38].

Closest option(s): A state commission of inquiry with members picked through the Supreme Court, as the law requires (state-commission-under-existing-law). The party's emphasis on a broadly agreed make-up is an element of commission-chosen-by-neutral-mechanism.

The party's platform and its 2026 statements do not address marriage, conversion, kosher certification or Shabbat. The evidence below is mostly from Hendel's time as a minister.

Statement: In September 2021, as communications minister in a government that was reforming kosher certification, Hendel said: "No one should have a monopoly on Judaism. Not Haredi, not religious, not religious-Zionist, not 'light', not Reform or Conservative." He said mayors should decide how public transport works in their cities on Shabbat, and that after the budget passed the government could deal with conversion and civil marriage: "We need to provide an alternative for those who cannot marry" ^{[63, 64]}.

Formal commitment: The August 2026 plan said public funding would go only to schools that teach core subjects (such as math and English), which would affect Haredi schools that do not teach them ^{[43, 45]}. As a Knesset member Hendel sponsored a bill on the status of mixed religious-secular state schools, which did not advance ^[32].

Statement: In July 2026 Hendel criticized the coalition's exemption bills and what he called "a law that disgraces the Torah" (in another speech, "a law called the Torah law"), and said Haredi political leaders treat the state as "the rule of heretics" ^{[22, 65]}. In May 2026 the party set up its own "Council of Torah Sages" of rabbis who serve in the army, which Hendel called "the true Council of Torah Sages" ^[53].

Closest option(s): Keep the Rabbinate but allow alternatives, such as civil marriage, and let each city decide on Shabbat transport (more-choice-local-decisions). This is based on Hendel's 2021 statements; the party has no current formal position on these questions.

Formal commitment: The platform proposes: priority for reservists in public-sector jobs and for reservists' businesses in state tenders; compensation for employers of reservists who serve more than 15 days a year; support for small businesses run by reservists; land for reservists in national-priority areas; and subsidized rent and insurance during and around reserve service ^[8]. The August 2026 plan added full funding of bachelor's and master's degrees for those who serve, arnona and National Insurance benefits for businesses that employ active reservists, and funded workshops to help soldiers process combat experience and return to civilian life ^{[43, 45]}.

Formal commitment: The party lists a dedicated "PTSD plan" among its work plans ^[8]. The August 2026 plan promised to expand rehabilitation and mental-health services in outlying and war-affected areas, support bereaved families, and create special tracks back to study and work for those hurt in the fighting ^{[44, 45]}. Several of its candidates are bereaved relatives or have worked with wounded soldiers ^{[4, 34, 41]}.

Formal commitment: The August 2026 plan promised, within 90 days of a government being formed, a government plan for northern residents to return home, a dedicated budget to rebuild communities, and a plan to strengthen Kiryat Shmona, the Galilee, the communities near Gaza, the Negev and the communities along the eastern border ^{[43, 45]}.

Formal commitment: The August 2026 plan promised to strengthen public education, fund only schools that teach core subjects, give school principals more autonomy, invest heavily in early childhood, raise young teachers' pay and change how teachers are employed and promoted ^{[43, 45]}. The platform says education budgets should go only to institutions whose students serve the state ^[8].

Formal commitment: The platform proposes limiting a prime minister to eight years or two terms, and cutting the number of government ministries to those that "change reality" ^[8]. The August 2026 plan added a "Zionist constitution", changing the system of government, handing more powers to local government, cutting bureaucracy, and term limits for elected officials ^{[43, 44]}.

Formal commitment: The platform calls for strengthening settlement in Judea and Samaria, the Negev, the Galilee and along the borders; "restoring the Judaization of the Negev and Galilee as a national mission" (meaning more Jewish communities there); individual farms and grazing land to hold open areas; a civilian guard model for farmland ("the new HaShomer"); permanent local emergency squads with policing powers; advanced infrastructure (education, health, communications) in border communities; and support for agriculture, research and efficiency, which it calls necessary for holding land and for food security ^[8].

Formal commitment: The platform calls for strengthening Israeli defense industries and producing weapons in Israel, and for enlarging the regular army, career army and reserves ^[8]. Statement: Hendel wrote in May 2025 that Israel must not depend on foreign defense industries, "not even the United States" ^[48]. He has argued that a small army forces repeated reserve call-ups and harms security ^{[22, 52]}.

Statement: In March 2024, after reserve duty in Gaza, Hendel said that doubts about whether women can be combat soldiers "have disappeared" and that "the army needs people who hold weapons, men or women" ^[19]. In August 2026 he said that with a larger army, women paramedics could be assigned to units other than Haredi ones ^[52].

Formal commitment: The platform's service-for-all principle applies to Arab citizens too, through more national-service tracks in Arab society ^[8]. Statement: Hendel said in July 2026 that he hopes "an Arab and Zionist party" will one day join a coalition, "but not a Palestinian-Israeli party" ^[22]. Zelekha, the joint-list partner, said in September 2026 that "most Arab citizens of Israel are loyal citizens" and that there should be no incitement against them ^[14].

Action: As communications minister Hendel advanced the 2020 government plan for nationwide fiber-optic networks, including in outlying and border areas ^[30], and in 2022 ordered full number portability for kosher phone lines ^[31]. In 2024 he named the fiber-optic reform as the change he made as minister ^[19].