Yachad (Political Party)

Yachad combined Yishai’s background in Shas with an appeal to voters outside that party, including supporters disappointed with the religious-Zionist Bayit Yehudi, or Jewish Home, party.[6] Its name, Hebrew for “Together,” matched its public presentation as a project of unity among different sectors.[6][1] At the party’s launch, Yishai also emphasized social concerns.[9] Yishai and Marzel stressed Israel’s Jewish character, while Yishai committed the party to supporting a right-wing government.[1][10]

The party’s principal electoral effort was its joint list with the far-right Otzma Yehudit faction in 2015.[11] The arrangement was intended to help both factions pass the electoral threshold and was presented as a technical agreement, with the factions expected to separate after the election rather than necessarily maintain a common ideological framework.[11] Despite receiving 125,158 votes, listed as 3.0 percent of valid votes in an election-results table, Yachad won no seats in the 20th Knesset.[12]

Eli Yishai announced his new party on December 15, 2014, after leaving Shas following a leadership conflict with Aryeh Deri, who became the party’s chairman in 2013.[13][2] Yishai had led Shas from 1999 to 2013 and had served on its behalf as a Knesset member, deputy prime minister, and minister in Israeli governments.[2] At the time of his departure, he had belonged to Shas for 30 years and served as its chairman for 14.[9][2]

Contemporary election coverage used the combined name Yachad–Ha’am Itanu for the party.[1][2] Yishai presented the organization as a means of continuing the legacy of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Shas’s late spiritual leader.[1] Immediately after the launch, Jewish Home member Yoni Chetboun announced plans to join.[3] The announcement itself was disrupted by activists reportedly affiliated with Shas, who entered the hall shouting “traitor” and became involved in small scuffles with Yishai’s supporters.[3]

This party was distinct from an earlier Israeli party called Yachad, created when Meretz merged with Yossi Beilin’s Shahar movement in December 2003.[14] That earlier organization adopted the name Meretz-Yachad in July 2005 and returned to the name Meretz for the 2006 election.[14]

On January 29, 2015, the final day for submitting candidate lists, Yachad agreed to join forces with Otzma Yehudit and place Baruch Marzel fourth on its list.[13] The alliance sought to attract far-right voters disappointed with Naftali Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi as well as right-wing Shas supporters.[13] Yishai had also sought to offer an alternative Haredi political home; after reaching an understanding with Shas not to target its electorate, Yachad focused on voters disappointed with Bayit Yehudi.[6]

Following its unsuccessful 2015 campaign, the party continued organizational activity and in 2016 planned a membership drive ahead of a primary election.[15] Before the April 2019 election, however, Yishai withdrew Yachad from the race about two weeks before voting and announced support for United Torah Judaism.[7] Recent surveys had placed Yachad below the 3.25 percent threshold.[7] Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the withdrawal, saying it would prevent votes from being lost in the right-wing camp.[7] By 2026, Yachad was described as a defunct party.[8]

At the party’s launch, Yishai pledged to promote social justice and concern for poor and underprivileged communities, the periphery, and development towns.[9] He framed the party’s purpose in terms of overcoming communal divisions: “The nation is with us because the nation wants unity, wants to finally break down the barriers between the religious and secular, between Ashkenazi and Sephardi [Jews].”[9] He predicted that the party would win at least ten seats in the March 2015 election.[9][13]

Yishai and Marzel expressed support for protecting Israel’s Jewish character and opposition to a Palestinian state.[1] Before the election, Yishai declared that Yachad would recommend Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister and emphasized its commitment to a right-wing government.[10] In an interview, he said the party would “prevent the division of Jerusalem, preserve Jewish society and return the infiltrators to their country.”[10]

The candidate list brought together figures from several political and religious backgrounds.[6] Yishai headed the ticket, followed by Chetboun, who had left Bayit Yehudi, in second place; Michael Ayash was third and Marzel, representing Otzma Yehudit, fourth.[4][6] Sasson Trebelsi, Amital Bareli, and Dudi Shomenfeld occupied fifth, sixth, and seventh place respectively.[6]

The membership and primary-election plan announced in 2016 aimed initially to recruit 10,000 members and strengthen their commitment and sense of belonging to the party.[15] Fees were to be symbolic so that yeshiva students could participate.[15] Under the proposed system, the party’s council of sages would recommend candidates, Rabbi Meir Mazuz would approve them, and members would vote on the list.[15] This represented a departure from the traditional Haredi practice of having spiritual leaders select parliamentary candidates.[15]

The 2015 election was the first held after Israel’s electoral threshold rose from 2 percent to 3.25 percent, a change that encouraged parties to form joint tickets.[4] Yachad’s alliance with Otzma Yehudit did not secure enough votes to cross that threshold, leaving the list without parliamentary representation.[5][12] Chetboun, Ayash, and Marzel were among the candidates consequently left without seats.[16]

The list fell short of the threshold by just over 10,000 votes.[17] Its vote total accounted for more than half of the 235,191 votes cast for parties that failed to enter parliament or were disqualified.[17] After the election, Yachad and Yishai carried debts of several million shekels, which Yishai was gradually repaying, mostly through donations, by 2016.[15]

Yachad also drew support across parts of the Haredi and religious-Zionist political worlds.[6][18] Rabbi Tau’s decision to join Yachad in the 2015 election, against the backdrop of his opposition to Jewish Home, has been interpreted as evidence of some religious-Zionist groups’ preference for a renewed alliance with the Haredi community.[18] Some of Tau’s students reportedly said they “could no longer understand their rabbi” after the move.[18]

Marzel’s inclusion on the joint list prompted protests from ultra-Orthodox activists, who warned that it would spread “Kahanist ideology within the ultra-Orthodox community” and heighten tensions between Jews and Arabs.[19] Marzel had been affiliated with the now-banned Kach party, and some national-religious rabbis hesitated to endorse Yachad because of its hard-line political and religious views, while other religious-Zionist rabbis publicly supported it.[6][19]

The Central Elections Committee disqualified Marzel, but the Supreme Court overturned the decision.[6] The petition against him cited the spread of racist ideology, while Yesh Atid supported barring him because of concerns about “incitement and violent rhetoric” in the Knesset.[11]

After the election, Yishai alleged organized, intentional fraud affecting Yachad’s results and said the party was considering a court petition.[16] These were allegations rather than established findings; Yishai also said that he would accept the result if it stood.[16]