Yashar (Party)

Yashar! with Eisenkot—also rendered in English as “Yashar! Im Eisenkot”—is a political party founded by Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and Knesset member, to contest the 2026 Israeli election.[1] The party describes itself as a governing alternative and a vehicle for national reconstruction, with priorities that include security, capable public administration, shared civic obligations, and unifying Israeli society. Its stated vision is a Jewish, democratic, secure, and strong Israel in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.[2]

“Yashar” means “straight” or “upright,” and the party’s use of the name associates it with integrity, honesty, transparency, and responsibility to the public.[1] Eisenkot called the party’s creation a “personal and national duty — to be worthy,” and said that citizens “deserve leadership that serves the public with integrity and a deep commitment to our shared future.”[1] At its launch, the party framed its mission as “repair, healing, and hope for Israeli society,” as well as putting Israel’s security and national interests first.[5]

The party’s platform spans national security and diplomacy, service requirements, constitutional and judicial arrangements, economic policy, education, immigration, and support for people and communities affected by the war. These are proposed policies, not descriptions of enacted government measures.[2][6] Yashar has avoided an explicit left-right label in its public presentation, while election coverage described it as seeking support from voters on the right, including former Likud voters.[7]

Eisenkot’s political path to founding Yashar followed his service as IDF chief of general staff from 2015 to 2019 and his entry into the Knesset for National Unity in 2022. After the October 7, 2023 attacks, he served as a minister and an observer in the war cabinet, leaving the government in June 2024. On June 30, 2025, he announced that he would resign from the Knesset and leave National Unity.[3][8]

Eisenkot announced Yashar on September 16, 2025. He said he had sought a transparent process of democratization and open primaries that could make National Unity a broad party and governing alternative. He described his disagreement with Gantz as substantive but said he knew of no ideological differences; Gantz, in turn, said significant ideological differences had emerged over how best to serve Israel.[1][8]

Before deciding to establish a separate party, Eisenkot consulted opposition leaders, including Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, about creating a political framework. He chose to launch his own platform while leaving room for cooperation and possible pre-election alliances, and said the party’s name and structure could evolve.[1] The party also presented itself as a potential basis for future political unifications rather than as a faction intended to remain isolated.[5]

At its founding, Yashar was announced with 120 members from political, economic, security, technology, and civic backgrounds. Named founders included former Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana; former Prime Minister’s Office director-general Yoav Horowitz; retired major general Tal Rousso; economist Manuel Trajtenberg; Wix president Nir Zohar; filmmaker Yariv Mozer; policy adviser and social activist Inbar Yehezkel; and hostage-release activist Shir Sigal.[5] Other accounts of the founding group also name retired general Yishai Bar, former Defense Ministry Service Track Directorate head Inbar Giti-Harush, attorney and social activist Inbar Yehezkel, and civic activist Shir Sigal.[1]

Eisenkot launched the party’s election campaign on June 30, 2026.[9] Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen joined Yashar in May 2026 and was described as its most senior recruit at that point.[1] Cohen later appeared second on the party’s candidate slate.[10] On September 6, Eisenkot and Hili Tropper, leader of Bayit Tzioni, agreed to run together: Tropper received sixth place on the joint list and was designated to become its senior minister if the alliance formed a government. Tropper associates were also assigned places on the list.[11]

Yashar submitted its candidate list for the 26th Knesset on September 7, 2026, requesting the ballot letters “דרך” (Derekh, meaning “Way”). The published slate placed Eisenkot first, Cohen second, Orit Farkash-Hacohen third, education entrepreneur Adi Altschuler fourth, Kahana fifth, and Tropper sixth; the report said women made up half of the list.[10] A separate list account also names Shaul Meridor, a former Finance Ministry budget chief, among the first seven candidates.[3] Yashar did not hold primaries for the list; reporting described it as a party in which the leader selected who would be added.[12]

In September, Yashar signed a surplus-vote agreement with The Democrats. Such an agreement allows two lists that both pass the electoral threshold to pool surplus votes when remaining Knesset seats are allocated; it neither merges the parties nor requires them to cooperate after the election.[13] The electoral threshold cited in campaign coverage was 3.25 percent, so the arrangement could help produce an additional seat only if both parties crossed it.[14]

Yashar also joined campaign coordination with Bennett and Lapid’s B’Yachad, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, and Yair Golan’s The Democrats. On September 26, the leaders of the four lists signed an agreement to coordinate campaigning, avoid attacking one another, and form working groups on turnout and prospective government policy. Their shared agenda included haredi enlistment and a state commission of inquiry into October 7, but they did not settle who would lead a government.[3]

Yashar’s broad objectives, approved by the Registrar of Parties on December 17, 2025, include maintaining Israel as the Jewish national home, rebuilding and unifying the country after October 7 and two years of war, strengthening national security, and restoring public service and effective governance. The objectives also call for equal rights, duties, and opportunities; democratic rules and institutional arrangements; economic growth and lower living costs; reduced social polarization; educational reform; improved personal security; support for young people; immigration; and long-term planning toward Israel’s 2048 centennial.[2]

Ahead of the election, the party described a national-security program based on long-term planning, strengthening the IDF, fortifying borders, and establishing Israel as a regional power. Its proposals also call for pursuing peace, expanding regional cooperation and existing peace agreements, maintaining what the party calls a solid Jewish majority, and improving Israel’s international standing.[3][6] Eisenkot identified Iran as his foremost external concern and advocated stronger ties with the United States.[3] The party also promised a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, the preceding decade, and the conduct of the war.[6]

At the June 2026 campaign launch, Eisenkot said the inquiry’s findings would help “learn from the past and prepare for the future.” He included rehabilitation of northern and southern communities and care for people physically or mentally harmed in the war among the party’s aims. He proposed limiting reserve service to 50 days a year and expanding military ranks to reduce the burden on conscripts and reservists without compromising security.[15]

The party’s platform proposes rehabilitation support for bereaved families, former captives, and people with post-traumatic stress, as well as rebuilding communities in the Western Negev and the North.[6] Campaign proposals included rehabilitation administrations for northern and southern communities, a national system to prevent, identify, and treat post-traumatic stress, and expanded support for discharged soldiers and their families, including access to treatment close to home.[9] Yashar also proposed investing 20 billion shekels over three years in economic and social support for active-duty and reserve service members and their families. Announced measures included expanded benefits for working reservists, full compensation to employers for social contributions, and assistance for families, education, and housing.[9]

Service and civic obligations. A central proposal is a law requiring all citizens to complete either military service or civilian-national service. Under the plan, the IDF would select recruits according to operational and staffing needs, with others assigned to civilian service. The party proposes an independent National Service Authority to screen and place young Israelis, manage service directly rather than through political or communal intermediaries, and publish recruitment and service data.[16]

The party’s published versions describe limited Torah-study deferments in somewhat different terms. One campaign account says up to 3 percent of each annual cohort could receive renewable, one-year deferments, subject to eligibility requirements and basic training; another says only 3 percent would receive a one-year Torah-study deferral.[3][9] The proposal also provides for tiered benefits favoring graduates of combat service, then other military service, then civilian-national service, with a further tier for active reservists. Yashar’s campaign materials say people who evade service without an exemption would lose benefits and face criminal sanctions.[9][16]

Institutions and governance. Yashar proposes a Basic Law to clarify the respective powers of the Knesset, government, and courts, while preserving judicial independence and the legislature’s lawmaking authority. Its described program does not specify rules for judicial appointments or when courts could overturn legislation. The party also calls for broad agreement on a constitution, a two-term limit for prime ministers, and a cap on the number of government ministers.[3]

The party’s objectives include restoring public service and governance, and its proposals include reforming public administration by ending political appointments, setting measurable targets, and closing ministries it considers unnecessary.[17] Its platform also advocates a national planning authority to develop long-term plans across national policy areas.[6]

Economic policy and public investment. Yashar’s economic program emphasizes working households, young people, and reservists. It proposes reducing import barriers and Israel-specific regulation, expanding parallel imports, and curbing concentrated market power, including in food and consumer markets. The proposals also include supporting Israeli agriculture, reforming kosher certification and imports, reducing bureaucracy for manufacturers and importers, and cutting income taxes.[17] The party has proposed targeted taxes on products such as disposable goods and sugary drinks, and says some benefits should be allocated according to socioeconomic circumstances and earning potential rather than sectoral affiliation.[18]

The economic plan combines competition measures with public investment. It includes infrastructure investment and reconstruction in the North and South, expanded rail and urban transit, increased housing supply, and taxation of land not advanced for construction. Other proposals would prioritize working households and reservists for housing support and subsidized childcare, and direct education funding toward state schools teaching core subjects.[17] Yashar says state assistance should prioritize IDF reservists.[3] One account characterized the economic proposals as general and noted that they lacked concrete implementation timetables.[17]

The party has also proposed measures to combat the underground economy, including real-time reporting of large transactions, reduced use of cash, and artificial-intelligence tools to detect fictitious invoices.[17] Its youth plan proposes raising pay for all soldiers in mandatory service by 15 percent and increasing combat soldiers’ pay by 50 percent in their third year. It also calls for a ministerial committee for youth and young adults and changes to housing, childcare, tax, and transportation support, with particular attention to young people who work and serve.[19]

Education and immigration. Yashar’s education proposals call for compulsory core studies—including mathematics, English, and Hebrew—alongside greater authority for local governments and greater autonomy for school principals.[3][9] Its June 2026 proposal called for a national education council to set a mandatory core curriculum for all pupils, including in haredi and Arab communities. The party has also advocated stronger technological and traditional Jewish education.[3][9]

In its vision for a graduate in 2048, the party emphasizes national identity and roots in Judaism and Israel’s heritage, together with a democratic and civic outlook grounded in the Declaration of Independence. It also highlights artificial-intelligence proficiency, scientific and technological literacy, critical thinking, and lifelong learning. The party says education should restore shared foundations in Zionism, Judaism, Jewish heritage, and democracy.[20]

Yashar proposes an emergency plan to reduce Israelis’ departure from the country and improve immigrant integration. Its platform sets an ambition to absorb one million immigrants in the next decade and another million by 2048; campaign coverage described the broader target as two million by 2048, including one million in the first decade.[6][9] The party also proposes renewing ties with Jewish communities in the Diaspora and encouraging Israelis living abroad to return.[6][9]

Yashar contested the October 27, 2026 general election under Eisenkot’s leadership. Before election day, it was described as a leading challenger to Likud and as heading the opposition bloc against Benjamin Netanyahu.[3][14] Pre-election projections varied: one poll cited by the Jewish Virtual Library projected Yashar at 23 seats and Likud at 21, while another projected Yashar at 21 and Likud at 19. These were estimates from separate polls, not election results.[13] Campaign coverage also reported that polls generally showed neither the Netanyahu-led bloc nor the opposition bloc likely to win a Knesset majority, leaving government formation dependent on assembling coalition partners after the vote.[14]

The party profile says Yashar would not join a government led by Netanyahu.[21] Yashar has also stated coalition conditions that include accepting Israel’s Jewish-democratic character, upholding the Declaration of Independence, supporting compulsory service, and recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be destroyed.[4] In a September 2026 interview, Eisenkot said he did not regard the major Arab-led parties as viable coalition partners because, in his view, they did not accept his principles. He rejected a rotating premiership and argued that the leader of the largest party should be the candidate for prime minister.[4]

The question of possible Arab-party cooperation drew attention even before Yashar’s launch. In July 2025, when asked whether he would serve in a government with Arab parties, Eisenkot said the goal should be a Zionist and democratic government and that anyone meeting that standard could participate.[8] During the 2026 campaign, he set four coalition principles and said he did not see a major Arab-led party that accepted them.[4] These statements distinguished conditional participation from a formal commitment to any particular Arab party.

An INSS analysis of Egyptian and Jordanian commentary noted that a Jordanian commentator portrayed Eisenkot as a former chief of staff and bereaved father who understood the cost of war, and argued that security required political accommodation rather than settlement expansion and confrontation with the world. That was the commentator’s characterization, not a statement of Yashar’s platform.[22]

A July 2026 article on Jordan’s Ammon website described Eisenkot as “The Last Chance for Peace,” a headline INSS reported as the commentator’s view rather than as a party slogan.[22] The INSS analysis also noted discussion of Eisenkot’s performance in public-opinion polls but supplied no figures. Separately, the party’s campaign was the subject of competing descriptions of its political positioning: it did not adopt a clear left-right label, while one report characterized it as competing to offer a different version of the Israeli right and appealing to former Likud voters who had lost faith in Netanyahu.[7]

Eisenkot’s position on the Palestinian question is another area of political disagreement. A report on his August interview said he rejected the two-state formula as “a grave mistake,” opposed advancing construction in E1 because of its international diplomatic cost, and criticized settler violence, warning that government policies in Judea and Samaria were damaging Israel’s international legitimacy.[3] These positions sit alongside Yashar’s stated commitments to security, peace, and preserving a Jewish majority, rather than constituting a fully detailed account of every aspect of the party’s policy on the conflict.[3][6]

Yashar’s proposal for universal service is a politically contested part of its program, particularly its application to haredi and Arab citizens, the limited Torah-study deferments, and penalties for people who evade service. The party presents the proposal as a shared civic obligation, with military assignments determined by IDF needs and civilian service for others; its design also links benefits to the type of service completed.[9][16] The party’s education proposals to require a common core curriculum, including in haredi and Arab communities, also concern contested questions of state authority and educational autonomy.[9]

Coalition questions have produced evolving statements. Before Yashar’s launch, Eisenkot said anyone fitting the requirements of a Zionist and democratic government could participate.[8] During the election campaign, he said he saw no major Arab-led party that accepted his four coalition principles, while separate coverage noted continued debate over whether an opposition government might depend on Arab parties’ outside parliamentary support.[3][4] The sources also differ in how they characterize Yashar’s political identity: the party avoids an explicit left-right label, whereas one analysis places its appeal on the right and among former Likud voters.[7]

Other debates concern Eisenkot’s rejection of the two-state formula, his criticism of settlement construction in E1 and settler violence, and the party’s proposals on Israel’s Jewish majority, immigration, and the relationship between Jewish and democratic principles.[3][6] Such matters are presented here as political positions and proposals; the party’s policy pages do not establish that those proposals have been implemented.[6]

Yashar is chaired by Gadi Eisenkot, identified in party materials and event listings as a former IDF chief of staff.[23] The party’s public-facing candidate list was headed by Eisenkot, followed by Yoram Cohen, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Adi Altschuler, Matan Kahana, and Chili Tropper.[10] Another event listing identified Devora Sharifian Bachar, a former director of the Intelligence Branch in the Prime Minister’s Office, as a party member.[24]

The party’s legal Hebrew name is “מפלגת ישר לישראל עם איזנקוט,” and its donation-policy page identifies it by registration number 599002060. The page says donations fund party activities during an election year and are subject to party-financing rules.[25]