Israel Votes: A Guide to the Parties Competing for the Next Knesset

Israelis are casting ballots on 2026-10-27 to elect the country's next Knesset. Parties from across the spectrum are competing for votes and for a role in shaping the country's direction. The Jerusalem Post has compiled explainers on the leaders, platforms and main positions of the principal lists.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads Likud, a right-wing party that stresses national security and Jewish nationalism and takes a firm stand against Palestinian statehood. Likud heads the right-wing bloc and the sitting coalition. Also in that bloc is Otzma Yehudit, a far-right nationalist party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. It advocates a hardline approach to security threats, expanded Jewish settlement and tougher law enforcement.

Religious Zionist Party-Zehut is led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich together with Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin. The far-right, religious-nationalist list supports expanding West Bank settlements, applying Israeli sovereignty over the territory and advancing judicial reform. Shas and United Torah Judaism, both ultra-Orthodox parties, complete the Netanyahu bloc. They prioritize protecting the status of religious institutions and maintaining broad exemptions from IDF service for yeshiva students. Shas mainly represents Sephardi and Mizrahi haredi and religious Jews, while UTJ speaks for Ashkenazi haredi communities.

The opposition bloc includes several centrist and left-leaning lists. Yashar, led by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, is a centrist party focused on national security, government reform and replacing Netanyahu. B'Yachad, led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, is also centrist and emphasizes government reform, economic growth and enlisting haredi men into the army. The Democrats, led by Yair Golan, are a left-wing Zionist party that stresses liberal democracy, civil rights, education reform and greater equality in military service.

Yisrael Beytenu, led by Avigdor Liberman, is a right-wing, secular nationalist party. It focuses on national security, a tougher stance against Hamas and curbing the influence of religious parties in government. It, too, sits in the opposition bloc.

Arab Israeli politics is represented by the Joint List and Ra'am. The Joint List is generally left-wing and emphasizes equality, civil rights and Palestinian national rights. Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, takes a more pragmatic line, concentrating on tackling crime, securing funding and improving living conditions in Arab communities.

Several smaller parties are fighting to clear the 3.25% electoral threshold, below which a list wins no seats. Recent polls have put the People of Israel party and the Reservists-Economic Party near that line, with their standing varying between surveys. Their fate could have a significant effect on the balance between the blocs.

People of Israel is led by former IDF general Ofer Winter. The right-wing party backs Netanyahu for prime minister and calls for new leadership from outside the political establishment. It makes haredi enlistment a condition for joining a government, rejects blanket exemptions for yeshiva students and supports a hardline security policy, including voluntary emigration from Gaza.

The Reservists-Economic Party is led by former minister Yoaz Hendel and economist Yaron Zelekha. It pairs a right-leaning Zionist and security agenda with economic reform. The party says it will join only a Zionist government and wants a universal conscription law passed before any government is formed. Separately, the Haredi Public Party, led by Moti Leitner, offers an alternative to Shas and UTJ. It backs wider haredi military or national service, core-curriculum studies including math and English, and greater accountability from haredi political leaders.