Amcha Yisrael: what they've published

Intro

0:00Ofer Winter's new party has a written platform that calls for a voluntary emigration quote-unquote plan for Gaza residents and says every Israeli citizen should do military or civil service with housing and tax benefits tied to that service. This is Close Read and this is a series about what Israel's parties are promising to

About this series

0:24do in their own published words for English speaking voters ahead of the October 27th election. One party per episode. I only use that the party itself is made public. Their platform, their website, their official accounts, and on-the-record statements by their leaders. If they didn't publish it, it doesn't count. And if they publish nothing, that's the episode. Am HaYisrael, which translates roughly as Your People Israel, is a single party led by Ofer Winter, a brigadier general in the reserves. It's on the ballot under the letter final chaf. The party has one policy document. It's a Hebrew webpage on their site called

What they've published

1:03the Am HaYisrael platform. Eight foundations, principles, and direction. It has a short preamble, five core values, and eight sections the party calls foundations. One thing to know, that page is not linked from the site's menu, and it's marked so search engines don't index it. So it's public if you know the address, but the party has not pointed people to it. I'm treating it as their platform nonetheless, and I'll update it if that changes. I did not find an English or an Arabic version of this platform, and I did not find a PDF. Their Facebook and Instagram pages need a login to read, and I don't log in anywhere for this series, so I didn't check them. The security doctrine is the longest part of the platform.

1:53The section is titled, quote unquote, changing the security doctrine from

Security and foreign policy

1:58containment to decisive victory, and it opens with no more managing the conflict round after round. The platform says the doctrine rests on the belief that, quote, the land of the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. The principles it lists include defeating enemies quickly, quote, exacting a territorial price from the enemy, end quote, so that starting a conflict carries a real cost and ongoing preventive offensive action as a permanent part of how the army operates, not an exception between wars. It calls for a stable multi-year defense budget, for military readiness to be reported transparently to the government and the Knesset, and for more domestic weapons production.

2:49On Reservis, it says the length of fighting is an operational factor, and the economic costs of long call-ups should count as part of the cost of a war. On Gaza, the platform says, quote, we will lead a voluntary immigration plan for residents of the Strip who wish to leave and rebuild their lives within the framework of international agreements, end quote. It adds that no rebuilding of military force or terror infrastructure will be allowed under any guise. On foreign policy, they commit to keeping the existing peace agreements, standing firm against Iran and what they call the axis of resistance and deepening normalization and the alliance with the United States. They want foreign investment and critical infrastructure screened and the foreign ministry rebuilt with clear coordinating authority.

3:42They also write that allies do not get a veto over Israel's decisions. There's a section of what they call, quote, soft warfare, end quote. It says Israel should prepare in advance for international legal cases and protect commanders, soldiers, and elected officials from them and build a diplomacy and public advocacy operation that they describe as one that does not apologize. The written platform doesn't mention a Palestinian state, Lebanon, or anything about hostages' future or past. I couldn't find a published position on a state commission of inquiry on October 7th.

October 7 accountability

4:21The platform does say the failures of state institutions, quote, peaked on October 7th, and it proposes a permanent independent body to investigate government performance and failures as a routine matter, not only after a disaster. The platform says the cost of living comes from market concentration, import barriers,

Economy and cost of living

4:45regulation, and low productivity. Its answer is a freer market, breaking up monopolies, removing import barriers, and recognizing international product standards. For small businesses, it promises fewer regulatory hurdles, binding deadlines for approvals, and a cost-benefit check before any new regulation. It also connects organized crime to prices, saying weak enforcement gets passed on to consumers through construction costs and insurance premiums. I didn't find anything on tax rates, wages, or specific budget numbers. Two concrete items. First, expand urban renewal so that renovating an old building also adds shelter protection.

Housing

5:41Secondly, increase supply by releasing more land and shortening planning and permit processes on the principle that, quote, infrastructure comes before the neighborhood, end quote. The platform describes, quote, a Judaism that invites and does not coerce, end quote,

Religion and state

6:05and says the public space should be shaped by broad agreement and local communities, not by coercion that changes with each coalition. On the topic of service, this is one of the most detailed sections. The platform says anyone the Army finds suitable does military service, and anyone who can't serve in the IDF does civil or national service. Adjustments are made for individuals, but not at the level of the sector. It says the IDF chooses first, and no other body can take away manpower the Army says it needs. They would create an independent, non-political service administration to assign each year's cohort and report to the Knesset. On Torah study, special, quote, Torah excellence, end quote, tracks would remain, with entry based on the Army's need and a defined quota.

7:03The platform calls those tracks the exception. Benefits in housing, higher education, taxes, and employment would be tied to service, while what it calls the basic rights of every citizen stays unconditional. Reservist pay would be treated as wages for work and not compensation for lost income. I didn't find a published position, though, on Shabbat, on marriage, or on conversion. The platform calls for defining the powers of each branch of government in law.

Judiciary and governance

7:38It proposes an appeals tier for High Court of Justice rulings and splitting the Attorney General's job into two roles, one advising the government and one heading the prosecution. On crime, it proposes a law that will let prosecutors charge people for running, funding, or belonging to a criminal organization without proving a specific crime by its leader and seize their property. It also proposes one national body combining criminal intelligence, enforcement, and economics sanctions. On government itself, it proposes a performance authority in the Prime Minister's office that measures every ministry on the same metrics and publishes those results.

8:25I did not find positions on how judges are selected or on changing the electoral system. The platform calls for full, core studies for every child. With Jewish values, Zionism, and civic

Education

8:39responsibility is part of that core. It says the state won't fund schools that teach, quote, anti-Zionist values or programs, end quote. It wants more authority for municipalities and school principals, with published results by local authority and by school, and extra funding by need. It also promises higher status and pay for teachers, with promotion based on teaching quality. Health comes up in the section in the document on the periphery. The platform promises a minimum package of

Health

9:15health services in every region and a maximum arrival time for emergency care. It would change how money is split between the health funds to reflect geography and demographics, and give incentives to medical staff who work in the periphery. I could not find a published position on pensions, the elderly, or on welfare programs.

Welfare, Arab citizens

9:36The platform defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and says the state is committed to the security, dignity, and rights of all of its citizens. It commits, quote, to the personal security, dignity, freedom of worship, and rights of citizens of every religion and community. It says minority communities should share a national responsibility, first and foremost to the state, together with a say in decisions about their own lives. This section on the rule on the law of return is detailed. The platform says the law of return will be

Immigration, absorption, and diaspora

10:08preserved, and calls aliyah a strategic asset and not a budgetary burden. It proposes national aliyah targets, advanced preparation for emergency aliyah, faster recognition of immigrants' degrees and experience, programs to bring back Israelis living abroad, and steering new immigrants toward the periphery. On the diaspora, it says relations with Jews abroad, quote, are not a foreign affair, but a domestic one, end quote. It promises investment in Jewish identity and community security programs, a fight against anti-Semitism, and respectful dialogue with all streams of Judaism, to keep support for Israel across political lines. The platform proposes a multi-year infrastructure plan, covering energy, water,

Environment, energy, and transportation

10:59transportation, computing, communications, and ports, with one-body handling permits. It calls for a stronger electricity grid, water independence through desalination and wastewater reuse, and required cyber and physical protection for critical infrastructure. On climate, it frames preparing for heat waves, fires, and drought as risk management, and says it is not, quote, unquote, an ideological position. I did not find emissions targets, though, or renewable energy goals. Two things around the border stand out by how much space they get. The first is border regions.

11:48The platform says strengthening them is, quote, a national and security goal, not a welfare item, end quote. It promises promote firm Jewish settlement, that's the quote, in the border regions, and says the states will give priority in land and benefits to people who contribute to its security. The second area is technology. The party wants, quote, sovereign computing capability under Israeli control, end quote, which includes data sovereignty and regulation of artificial intelligence risks. The platform frames all of this under the phrase, quote, unquote, the sovereignty generation.

12:41In the published platform, I couldn't find positions on a state commission of inquiry

What's missing

12:47on October 7th, on a Palestinian state, on pensions and the elderly, or on Shabbat, marriage, and conversion. Taxes and wages aren't addressed with specifics and neither are emissions targets. That's what Amcha Yisrael has put in writing as of this recording. Every source I use is linked in the description. Most of them are in Hebrew. You can read them yourself. If they publish more before election day, I'll pin my best effort to do so as an update in the comments. Next is list number seven, Israel first, and the full playlist is linked below.