Key Israeli figures file independent Knesset lists as election race solidifies
Former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, ex-prime minister Naftali Bennett, Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter and Itamar Ben Gvir each submitted separate party slates to Israel’s Central Elections Committee.
Israel’s political landscape took shape on Monday as major players filed their candidate lists with the Central Elections Committee, chaired by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot launched the Yashar! party, submitting the letters dalet-resh-kaf (דרך) to signal a “straight path” for the country. Ex-prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Beyachad was the first to file, requesting either bet (ב) or resh-kuf (רק) as its ballot letter.
Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter announced his Amcha Israel slate, opting for the final kaf (ך) after rejecting a merger with Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism bloc. Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit also filed, seeking the bet symbol, which could create a dispute with Bennett’s party.
Additional filings included Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, a joint list called The Reservists and the Economic Party, and the long-standing Pirates Party, with more parties expected to submit before the filing deadline. The committee will now review the requested symbols and party names under election law.
How this story developed
- Sep 1 Israeli prime minister's wife faces libel claim over Oct. 7 accusations
- Sep 2 National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will present a seven-year, $20 bn scheme to move up to 1.86 million Palestinians out of Gaza, framing it as voluntary emigration.
- Sep 4 Ben Gvir outlined a first‑year target of 250,000 relocations and named potential host countries such as Turkey, Ethiopia, the Congo and Arab states.
- Sep 5 U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee says Israel has no active program to forcibly remove Gaza residents.
- Sep 6 Eight Muslim and Arab foreign ministers issued a joint condemnation of Israel's relocation proposal.
- Sep 7 Ed Miliband said Britain would ban goods from West Bank settlements and sanction firms supporting settlement expansion, citing evidence of war crimes and the need for a two-state solution. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis warned the policy could increase anti-Semitic attacks on the UK Jewish community. Conservative minister Kemi Badenoch and other Tory leaders accused Labour of political posturing that could strain relations with Israel and the United States.
- Sep 8 Netanyahu publicly alleged that officials deliberately kept him asleep on Oct. 7.
- Sep 8 Sara Netanyahu announced a libel lawsuit against Yair Golan over claims of his prior knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks.
- Sep 9 The sanctions were announced immediately before the start of Rosh Hashanah.
- Sep 9 Israel closed the British consulate in East Jerusalem and barred twelve British nationals after the UK’s settlement trade ban.
- Sep 9 Netanyahu faces mounting internal and international pressure ahead of the October Knesset election as the United Kingdom prepares sanctions on West Bank goods.
- Sep 9 Eight Arab and Muslim states publicly praised the United Kingdom’s ban on settlement products.
- Sep 10 Israeli opposition parties offered no substantive response to the UK sanctions.
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