More than 30 Parties Will Run in Elections

Although there were no real surprises in the recently published Israeli party lists — or even cues about how the upcoming Oct. 27 elections will pan out — the lists of Knesset candidates announced Sept. 9 did quicken and stimulate the conversation about what many Israelis believe this to be the most important election in the country’s history.

“I expect there will be an extremely high voter turnout,” in the election, said Eli Sperling, Israel Institute Teaching Fellow at the University of Georgia Department of International Affairs, adding that “it’s been a while since a government lasted its full term” of four years, as the current government has done.

Israelis only have one day to vote and with a few exceptions for soldiers and those serving diplomatic missions abroad, voters must vote in person in Israel. There’s no way of knowing how many Israelis now living abroad have bought tickets to fly to Israel to vote, but estimates are in the tens of thousands.

Still, that number might not have a huge impact on the election outcome. A party needs to cross a threshold of 3.25 percent of the votes in order to take seats in the legislature, or Knesset, which has a total of 120 seats. A coalition of parties need, then, to have between them 61 seats in order to have a majority.

So far, polls are, as Sperling put it, “all over the place.” Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party continues to run neck and neck with the Yashar Party. [Yashar means “straight” in Hebrew.] “The big question will be who can put together a coalition government,” said Sperling. Polls indicate it will be difficult for either Netanyahu’s camp or the opposition to do so without including a mostly Arab party.

If there are no actual surprises leaping from the 38 published party lists, there are some notable items. For one, even though it’s reportedly against the law for a political party to not include a female on its list, this is the first time in history that an ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, party selected a woman to run on its Knesset slate.

The new Haredi Public Party named Dr. Nechumi Yaffe, an ultra-Orthodox political psychology researcher, to the list headed by Moti Leitner. Sperling noted that she is a colleague of his on the Board of Israel Studies. She is also a senior faculty member and researcher at Tel Aviv University.

According to Sperling, “There’s no way the new Haredi party won’t cross the threshold, which is significant.”

Also highly notable is the inclusion on so many of the party lists of Israelis connected to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led terrorists on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 and taking hostage another 250, some of whom were also eventually killed.

On Yashar’s list is Shira Shapira, mother of Aner, Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s best friend who was killed in a shelter after throwing back seven grenades before one killed him. The two friends had attended the Re’im rave music festival and were among the nearly 400 attendees eventually killed. Heading Yashar is former Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who lost both a son and two nephews in the Gaza War that resulted from the Hamas attack.

A new party, called the Democrats, considered left of center, is headed by Yair Golan, a reserve major general, who most recently raised his profile for having rescued many survivors of the music festival, using their phone locations.

On what is considered a symbolic, but unrealistic position on the Democrats list, is Yocheved Lifshitz, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with her husband, Oded, who was later murdered by Hamas.

Sperling noted that number three on the Democrats Party list is Reform Rabbi Gilad Kariv, “which is high ranking,” and probably familiar to many American Jews.

Yisrael Beiteinu, which means, “Israel is Our Home,” is a traditionally Russian immigrant party that is considered center right. On its current list is Rafi Ben Shitrit, whose soldier son was killed on Oct. 7, and Sharon Sharabi, brother of Yossi and Eli Sharabi, both abducted into Gaza.

As Sperling pointed out, it’s not at all surprising that so many of the party lists include someone with a connection to Oct. 7. In one of the latest surveys conducted by The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), a Jerusalem-based nonpartisan research center, most Israelis say Oct. 7 is a central factor in choosing the party they will vote for.

In fact, nearly 70 percent of Jewish Israelis say Oct. 7 is a central factor in their vote. In addition to the 68 percent of Jewish Israelis, 32 percent of Arab Israelis also say Oct. 7 will impact their vote. Among Jewish Israelis, 76.5 percent were on the political Left, 74 percent in the Center and 66 percent on the Right.

“There is likewise a majority across all religious groups with the exception of the Haredim, and notably, the share that considers Oct. 7 a central factor is strongly correlated with the religious spectrum: secular: 81 percent; traditional non-religious: 74 percent; traditional-religious: 66 percent; national religious: 56 percent; Haredim: 26 percent,” the IDI reports.

One other notable inclusion on a party list — at least for Atlantans — is former Israeli Deputy Consul General Aviv Ezra who is on the Amcha Yisrael (Your People Israel) Party list. Launched in August by retired army General Ofer Winter, the party is on the right. But Sperling finds it interesting because “he found a segment to the right of Netanyahu.” One poll shows that the party will receive four votes, just squeaking by.

Sperling said that the political right in Israel is “beginning to plan for after Netanyahu,” who over the past eight years has “moved to the right with ties to the religious right and West Bank settlers. Winter understands this and his party may take votes away from Netanyahu’s Likud Party.”

Moreover, the prime minister’s disapproval rates are very high as Israelis still blame him and his government for not being prepared to the Hamas attack. The resulting war has also taken a toll on the country’s economy and on soldiers who have served several months of reserve duty.

With weeks to go before the election and the party campaigns go into high gear, IDI President Yohanon Plesner noted in his High Holiday greetings that his staff are doing their own preparation. “While the campaign is underway, IDI experts have been putting the finishing touches on a series of policy plans designed to help the new government take up the urgent task of renewal and reform after years of internal turmoil and war.”