Israeli Elections 2019

Yuli Edelstein was born in the Soviet Union and moved to Israel in the late 1980s. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 and served as Minister of Immigrant Absorption in Benjamin Netanyahu’s first government. He has been Speaker of the Knesset since 2013 and gained the second place on Likud’s ticket following the party’s primary in February.

What Yuli Edelstein says about the West Bank

“We have turned the wheel substantially to the right, the Palestinian state is no longer an agenda item, but Israeli sovereignty in [the occupied West Bank] is. It took us 20 years to eschew the idea of a Palestinian state – if the left gets in [during the election] it will take them 20 seconds to put it back on the agenda. We [therefore] have a responsibility to ensure that the right remains in control.”

Gilad Erdan was born in Ashkelon and became a captain in the Israeli army during his national service. He worked as an advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister in 1996, before being elected to the Knesset in 2003 with the Likud party.

In 2015 Erdan was appointed Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Information, a role he still holds. As part of this role, Erdan has waged a de facto war against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, banning a number of activists from entering the country, launching the “terrorists in suits” smear campaign and working closely with Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad to discredit the movement. 

Regev was born in Kiryat Gat, south of Tel Aviv, to a Mizrahi-Sephardic family. She was a Brigadier General and spokeswoman for the Israeli army during Israel’s “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and the 2006 Lebanon war.

She entered the Knesset in 2008 with the Likud party and, since 2015, has served as the Minister for Culture and Sport. Regev has been at the forefront of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s normalisation drive, visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with Israel’s national judo team. She has also verbally attacked Israeli-Arab Knesset Members (MKs) calling them a “Trojan horse” which seeks to destroy Israel.

Nir Barkat was born in Jerusalem and served in the Paratroopers Brigade during his national service in the Israeli army. He was elected Mayor of Jerusalem in 2008 and joined the Likud party in 2015.

In 2018, Barkat stopped all United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) operations in Jerusalem. Barkat labelled UNRWA a “foreign and unnecessary organisation that has failed miserably,” adding that he “intend[ed] to expel it from Jerusalem”. He also vowed to close UNRWA schools, leaving 1,800 children in the city without access to education.

He was replaced as mayor of Jerusalem by Moshe Leon in November and is now placed tenth on the Likud party’s electoral slate.

Moshe Kahlon is of Mizrahi descent and served in the Israeli army’s Ordnance Corps. Kahlon was elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections as part of the Likud party. He has since served in numerous Likud governments, holding the position of Communications Minister and Minister of Welfare. In 2014 he formed the Kulanu party, which he now heads.

What Moshe Kahlon says about the Gaza Strip

“I do not reproach citizens of Israel who are angry [about the besieged Gaza Strip], but when officials in the highest security offices in Israel tell us not to [escalate the situation], I am inclined to accept their opinions. We knew the truce [with Hamas] would be unpopular, but it came from a sense of great responsibility.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about Jerusalem

“The US embassy will [soon] be standing in Jerusalem, our nation’s eternal capital.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The enactment of the Nation-State Law was done hastily, we were wrong and we need to fix it. But this is a Jewish and democratic state, and if a community wants to separate for certain reasons, I can live with that very well.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about the West Bank

“My concern is that instead of rewarding the moderates and strengthening them, we’ll be doing the opposite, giving a prize to the problem child [Gaza]. This is very dangerous and could lead to an outburst of violence in [the West Bank].”

“I think it's time to annex the settlement blocs.”

Yair Lapid was born in Tel Aviv and completed his national service in the Israeli army’s Armored Corps. He served in Israel’s 1982 war on Lebanon but, due to health reasons, was forced to complete his service working for the army’s newspaper. He then worked as a journalist and TV anchor, before entering politics in 2012. He founded the Yesh Atid party, which became the second largest in the Israeli Knesset in the 2013 elections.

What Yair Lapid says about the Gaza Strip

“[We need] a lot of force against Hamas [combined] with economic stimuli that will lead the population [of Gaza] to stabilise. [We must] demand quiet in the south [of Israel], and this can only be done after deterrence is renewed. There is a solution: to hit Gaza’s terrorists hard. Only after that strike, only after we regain deterrence, can we go back to talking about an agreement.”

What Yair Lapid says about the Golan Heights

“Had we returned [Golan] to Syria, as the world demanded, we would have had Iranian soldiers staring down at the Galilee, and Iranian artillery aimed directly at our cities. This is the time for the world to recognise full Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”

What Yair Lapid says about Jerusalem

“Now is the time for the entire world to recognise united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Abu Dis will be [...] the capital of Palestine.”

What Yair Lapid says about the West Bank

“The Jordan Valley would remain the security border of the state of Israel in any future agreement.”

Like Blue and White head Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya'alon is of Ashkenazi origin and had a long army career. He served in the 1973 war and the 1982 Lebanon war before being appointed Chief of Staff of the Israeli army in 2002, overseeing Israel’s crackdown on the Second Intifada. He retired in 2005 citing his opposition to Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza.

Ya’alon was Defence Minister between 2013 and 2016 and now holds third place on Kahol Lavan’s electoral slate.  

What Moshe Ya’alon says about the West Bank

“When you look westward [from a West Bank settlement towards Israel] and see the lights of the Tel Aviv region, you can understand the strategic security importance of the settlements. It is our right to settle every part of the Land of Israel.”

Born to Sephardic-Mizrahi (Mediterranean-Middle Eastern Jewish) parents, Ashkenazi attended a prestigious military school in Tel Aviv and eventually joined the Israeli army’s Golani Brigade in 1972. He served in both the 1973 War and the 1982 war in Lebanon, eventually becoming Chief of Staff in 2007, overseeing Israel’s first war on the Gaza Strip in 2008. 

He is now placed in fourth position on Blue and White’s electoral slate.

What Gabi Ashkenazi says about the Gaza Strip

“We must work to solve the humanitarian crisis [in Gaza …] We have no problem with Qatari money going into the Strip to build a water desalination plant, provide electric power and improve the standard of living. This is in our interest.” 

“However, we [Blue and White] will not hand out cash [in Gaza] when incendiary balloons are flying. Deterrence must be reinstated. We will not hit empty homes and unmanned positions. We will hit Hamas where it hurts.”

Rafi Peretz is an orthodox rabbi who served as the Chief Military Rabbi of the Israeli army. He was previously involved in Israel’s illegal settlement of the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, prior to its “disengagement” in 2005. He was previously a relatively unknown figure, never having held political office until his appointment as head of the Union of Right-Wing Parties (URWP) ahead of the April election.

In June, Peretz was appointed as Israel’s Education Minister and granted observer status in the security cabinet. He has already sparked controversy in his short tenure as minister, announcing that he will strictly enforce a law requiring Arab-Israeli and ultra-Orthodox schools to fly the Israeli flag. 

What Rafi Peretz says about the Gaza Strip

“We are committed to the residents of Israel's south, and to defeating Hamas. The concept of a proportionate response is off the table. Hamas needs to understand that when they hurt us, there is no proportion."

What Rafi Peretz says about the West Bank

“In order to stop [US President Donald] Trump's 'deal of the century' we need a party committed to the land of Israel. We need to move from defence to offense, from destruction to construction and sovereignty."

Bezalel Smotrich heads the National Union faction, which merged with Jewish Home to become the Union of Right Wing Parties (URWP). He was born in the illegal Israeli settlement of Haspin, in the Golan Heights, and now lives in Kedumim, an illegal West Bank settlement near Nablus. He undertook his national service in the Operations Division of the army’s General Staff.

In 2015 Smotrich won a Knesset seat with the Jewish Home party, before being elected leader of the party’s National Union faction in January 2019. He is closely linked with some of the West Bank’s most extreme settlers, allegedly inciting violence against Palestinians during an Israeli crackdown on the territory in December.

In June he was appointed Israel’s Transport Minister, which he interpreted as a disappointment after being promised the Justice Ministry. He is expected to push for his preferred portfolio again should Yamina perform well on 17 September.

What Bezalel Smotrich says about the Gaza Strip

“The only solution for Gaza that will finally bring quiet, peace and security to the residents of the south [of Israel] is to return [the Israeli army] to the Gaza Strip and take responsibility to re-establish the Gush Katif settlements.”

What Bezalel Smotrich says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“We will enforce the law in the Negev [desert in southern Israel]. Sovereignty is not a theoretical matter: If it is not enforced it does not exist. We will put an end to [the] illegal takeover of land by Bedouin in the south and Arabs in the north.”

Naftali Bennett was born in Haifa to American parents and did his national service in a special forces unit of the Israeli army. He was called up as a reservist in Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon. Bennett worked alongside Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition government until 2012.

That year he became leader of the Jewish Home party, which he left in 2018 to form the New Right party with Ayelet Shaked. Following an unexpected defeat in April’s election, Bennett agreed to serve as Shaked’s number two in the New Right party. He is now fourth on Yamina’s slate after the party’s creation of a technical bloc with the Union of Right Wing Parties (URWP).

What Naftali Bennett says about the Gaza Strip

“Terrorists from Gaza should not enter Israel. Just as in Lebanon, Syria or anywhere else, we should shoot to kill. We need to shoot those who send arson balloons from Gaza; they are not children — they are terrorists. We are fooling ourselves. Why shoot next to them and not directly at them?”

“[Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s] irresolution and the delusional belief that talking to Gaza residents will bring down Hamas [...] are complete nonsense and irresponsible.”

What Naftali Bennett says about Jerusalem

“It will not be possible to divide Jerusalem even after a thousand years. Israel will not allow any concessions over its sovereignty; we are a small country and we will not give the Arabs even a centimetre.”

What Naftali Bennett says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The Joint Arab List Members of Knesset have made clear they are supporters of anti-Semitism and terrorism. They sit in the comfort of Israel’s democracy, living off Israeli taxpayers, while they spend their time [...] writing letters to the international media in support of anti-Semites and supporters of terror.”

What Naftali Bennett says about the West Bank

“It’s now 50 years since we liberated [the West Bank]. It’s time to recognise [it] as Israel. The time has come for us to all internalise the end of the era of the Palestinian state, and the beginning of the era of sovereignty. The time for sovereignty has arrived, and it’s time to bring this idea from potential to reality.”

Shuli Mualem was born in Haifa to Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jewish) parents and worked as a nurse and university lecturer. She ran in the 2013 Israeli elections under the Jewish Home party and was elected to the Knesset. When the Jewish Home’s most prominent figures, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, broke away from the party to form the New Right (Hayemin Hehadash) party, Mualem followed suit.

Mualem is well known for repeatedly storming Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound alongside controversial Likud Knesset Member (MK) Yehuda Glick. Although under the status quo agreement Israelis are banned from praying on the compound, Glick and Mualem have often led groups of settlers to the site for prayers and Jewish celebrations.

Ahmad Tibi was born in Tayibe, near the Green Line which separates the occupied West Bank from Israel. He qualified as a gynecologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and held a residency at the city’s Hadassah Hospital. He entered politics to work with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and was an advisor to former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the mid 1990s. He then established the Ta’al party and was elected to the Israeli Knesset.

What Ahmad Tibi says about Jerusalem

“Now more than ever before, Jerusalem is witnessing an unprecedented attack. However, and despite all this, it will remain Arab and Palestinian with its churches, mosques and alleys. It is [Arab] before and after [US President] Donald Trump, whose decision [to transfer the US embassy to Jerusalem] is a slap to all Arabs and proves that the American administration is part of the problem and not the solution.”

What Ahmad Tibi says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“There is a need for [Israel] to resolve its most fundamental contradiction: is it willing to accept universal principles of justice, freedom and equality for all, or is it going to continue its discriminatory policies against its non-Jewish citizens in all fields of life? The vision of an Arab prime minister, which now looks like a delusional idea, is drawing near. And then this will be an equal and democratic country, and not a Jewish and democratic one.”

What Ahmad Tibi says about the West Bank

“Not only in Gaza, also in the West Bank, there’s no doubt that there will be popular opposition [akin to the Great March of Return]. People without weapons, in a peaceful way, will breach [Israel’s] settlements.”

Born in Rishon LeZion near Tel Aviv, Cassif served in the Nahal brigade of the  Israeli army before going on to gain a PhD in political philosophy. Prior to Israel’s April election, he was a relatively unknown figure in Israeli politics, despite having been active in the Hadash party for decades.

Ahead of the April election Cassif was elected as Hadash’s only Jewish candidate. Israel’s Central Election Committee tried to ban him from participating in the election, a decision which was overturned by Israel’s Supreme Court. He is now placed fifth on the newly-reunited Joint List’s slate.

What Ofer Cassif says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“This is a Joint List, not a Joint Arab List. Our internal institutions, our central committee are comprised of both Jewish-Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel, and so our platform bears responsibility for all citizens.”

What Ofer Cassif says about the West Bank

“I’m concerned to say the least that the occupation [of Palestinian territories] is not only going to continue [under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] but is also going to be even more vicious than it is currently.”

Mansour Abbas has previously held the role of spokesperson and deputy chairman of Ra’am. He was elected to head the party ahead of April’s election and, following a merger with Balad, now serves as head of the Ra’am-Balad alliance.

Mtanes Shehadeh has previously worked with Mada Al-Carmel in Haifa, an organisation which conducts research about Palestinian citizens of Israel. He was elected chairman of Balad during the party's primaries in February, succeeding Jamal Zahalka who decided not to run in April’s general election. Under Balad’s agreement to run with Ra’am, he took second place on the alliance’s slate.

Saeed Alkharumi hails from the Bedouin village of Segev Shalom in the Negev (Naqab) desert in southern Israel. After gaining his degree, he worked as a teacher at the village’s high school and was elected to the local council.

In 2002 he was elected secretary general of the United Arab List (Ra'am), remaining in the position until he was elected deputy chairman of the party in 2014. Given his Bedouin background, Alkharumi has lobbied extensively on Bedouin issues and rights, campaigning against Israel’s demolition of Bedouin homes and in favour of recognising “unrecognised” villages in the Negev.

What Saeed Alkharumi says about Jerusalem

“[Any solution to the conflict] includes liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque and returning them to the Palestinian state.”

What Saeed Alkharumi says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“Of course, it’s the racist laws which the Knesset passed, including the Nation-State Law and the laws regarding planning and construction that ban Arab citizens from building their homes, which are behind this discrimination [against Bedouin citizens].”

“What is happening in the Negev is a crime against humanity. When the state demolishes, and forces people to demolish their own homes, at a rate of 2,270 buildings a year, that is a heinous crime.”

Tamar Zandberg was born in Tel Aviv and served in the Israeli army’s Education Corps. She was previously elected to Tel Aviv’s city council and won a Knesset seat with Meretz in 2013. In 2018 she was elected to head the party, meaning April’s election was her first electoral showing as leader. She was replaced in June with Nitzan Horowitz and now maintains second place on the party’s slate.

What Tamar Zandberg says about the Gaza Strip

“We can’t have another war [in Gaza]. War means more dead soldiers and more children in shelters, and in the end we’ll be back where we started. The government must do everything to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible and then move toward a greater diplomatic solution.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about Jerusalem

"I really want to see all the embassies in Jerusalem, and I want to see Jerusalem recognised by the world as the capital of Israel within recognised and safe borders. [Yet] we simply cannot celebrate unilateral moves whose potential for danger is so significant.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The Nation-State Law was taken out of storage and apartheid pops out of the box. It is a basic law of racism. Our response is true Jewish-Arab cooperation at the head of our [party] list - our answer to discrimination and racism is a diverse and impressive group of leaders in their fields, fighters for justice and equality, women and men from all over the country.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about the West Bank

“This year we’re marking 50 years [of] the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and land, and one thing is clear: the decision is between [whether] to continue this violent conflict, to sink deeper into war, hatred and the loss of hope: or choose a new path – even if it’s a long one – for peace that is based on two states for two people.”

“Israel needs a peace agreement that must include removing settlements. There is no greater deed of patriotism than opposing the occupation and saving the Zionist vision of a national homeland for the Jewish People in the land of Israel. [Being] pro-Israel does not mean pro-settlement.”

Born on a kibbutz (agricultural community) in Mandate Palestine to an Ashkenazi family, Ehud Barak has a long career in the Israeli army. He served as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit and went on to become Chief of Staff in the early 1990s. 

He served as Minister of Internal Affairs under Yitzhak Rabin prior to his assassination, becoming leader of the Israeli Labor Party in 1996. He was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1999, beating Benjamin Netanyahu to the top spot. 

After over a decade away from politics, Barak announced his political comeback in June, forming the Israel Democratic Party. Despite high hopes of a strong political comeback, Barak’s re-entry into politics has been marred by scandal over his alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein, a US billionaire who was recently arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking underage girls. 

As a result of this and poor poll predictions, Barak agreed to merge his party with Meretz, taking tenth position on the slate. 

Freige was born in Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian town located near the Green Line, which separates Israel from the occupied West Bank. He previously worked with Israeli NGO Peace Now before being elected to the Knesset in 2013 with Meretz. He was re-elected in 2015 and again in April’s election, before being placed in 6^th place on the Democratic Union slate. 

Freige has pushed for Meretz and now the Union to reach out to Palestinian citizens of Israel, demanding that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak apologise for the killing of 12 members of the community under his premiership, saying that “the Arabs don’t want to be a fig leaf and a lifesaver. We want to be partners”.

Orly Levy-Abekasis is an Israeli politician of Mizrahi descent. She is the daughter of David Levy, who served as Deputy Prime Minister three times between 1981 and 2000. Levy-Abekasis served in the Israeli Air Force and studied law.

She entered the Knesset in 2009 as a member of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party. In 2016 she announced that she would leave the party over its entry into government, saying it had abandoned its social platform during negotiations. 

In a surprise move, in July Gesher announced that it would contest the September election with the Israeli Labor Party. Levy-Abekasis has taken second place on the slate, behind Labor leader Amir Peretz.

Head of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, Michael Ben Ari, is of Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jewish) origin and studied at a yeshiva (religious school), before joining a settlement movement in the then-Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip in the late 1980s.

Ben Ari is a vocal supporter of rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was banned from political participation in Israel for racism and incitement in the 1980s. Kahane’s teachings advocate for expelling Palestinians from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), changing the status quo on Jerusalem’s Al-Asqa Mosque compound, and most famously inspired extremist settler Baruch Goldstein to carry out the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. 

In light of these ultra-nationalist views, a series of petitions were filed to Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, and Israel’s Election Committee to have Ben Ari banned from the April election. On 17 March 2019, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld Mandelblit’s recommendation and ruled that Ben Ari could not stand.

Despite this ban - which will be upheld ahead of September - Ben Ari remains the head of Otzma Yehudit. Speaking at the party’s campaign launch, he continued his anti-Palestinian rhetoric by saying that “we want to resettle our enemies in their countries […] we’ll give them a bottle of mineral water and even a sandwich. We’ll find them countries of origin they can go to”.