Israel First's work plan says every citizen should serve, in the army or in a civil national service, and that anyone who refuses would lose state benefits and housing assistance.4
Who is Israel First?
Israel First, led by Sharren Haskel, ballot letter Yod.12 The Aleh Yarok party joined them for a joint run, and its chair, Nir Yoftero, is number three on the list.102
What has Israel First published?
Their website, israelfirst.co.il, has a home page with principles and goals3 and a page called the national work plan, which is their platform.4 The work plan has four chapters: security, economy, education, and civil liberty and legalization. It's written in Hebrew, it isn't a PDF, and it isn't dated. I also went through Haskel's posts on X and the party's X account for anything that states a policy.56
Israel First's positions, topic by topic
The same twelve topics, in the same order, for every party. Where nothing was published, the episode says so.
What does Israel First say about security and foreign policy?
The work plan says they'd dismantle the terror infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon, fully demilitarize Hezbollah, destroy Hamas's governing and terror capabilities, and work to destabilize the regime in Iran, including "active support for internal opposition forces."4
It calls for an official declaration cancelling the Oslo Accords, saying terror groups violated them and they have no legal, security, or moral validity left.4
The home page says "there will be no territorial concessions."3 In August the party posted from the Jordan Valley that the valley is "inseparable from the State of Israel."5
They want to set up public diplomacy departments in the Foreign and Defense Ministries and a dedicated public diplomacy corps in the IDF.4
And in a September 8 post on X, Haskel wrote that Israeli industries, especially defense industries, should get incentives to bring work home or move it to friendly countries, and that countries that boycott Israelis shouldn't expect business as usual. She named Britain.9
What does Israel First say about accountability for October 7?
I couldn't find a published position on October 7 accountability.
What does Israel First say about the economy and the cost of living?
The work plan would close and merge what it calls unnecessary government ministries and abolish the post of minister without portfolio. It says Israel has more than 30 ministries where the US or Britain has 15 to 20.4
It calls for a "drastic" cut to the corporate tax rate, to attract foreign companies and bring Israelis back. It doesn't give a target rate.4
The home page adds removing bureaucratic barriers and breaking up cartels and monopolies to lower the cost of living.3
What every party says about the economy and the cost of living
What does Israel First say about housing?
I couldn't find a housing policy. The only mention is that people who evade national service would lose housing assistance.4
What does Israel First say about religion and state?
Their X posts come back to this topic several times.56 The work plan calls for an equal service law. Anyone who doesn't serve in the IDF would be required to do a defined national civil service.4 People who evade that duty, in the plan's words, would lose eligibility for state benefits, special allowances, housing assistance, and affirmative action preferences. Combat soldiers and reservists would get welfare packages, grants, and what the plan calls "absolute priority" in state institutions.4 On September 28 Haskel posted three commitments from a party press conference, and number three was "a draft law."6
I couldn't find a position on Shabbat, marriage, or conversion.
What does Israel First say about the judiciary and governance?
Haskel wrote on X on September 15 that the judicial system "must be fixed," and then: "Just not like this. Only quietly, through legislation, through parliamentary work."8 I couldn't find a specific proposal on the courts, judicial selection, or the attorney general.
What does Israel First say about education?
School vouchers. The work plan says the state would give every parent a yearly "education voucher" worth about 60,000 shekels, and parents would pick the school it goes to. Principals would get full autonomy to hire teachers and set pay and bonuses by performance, not only seniority.4
What does Israel First say about health?
I couldn't find a published position on health.
What does Israel First say about social welfare, pensions and the elderly?
Beyond the reservist benefits I mentioned, I couldn't find a published position on welfare, pensions, or the elderly.
What every party says about social welfare, pensions and the elderly
What does Israel First say about Arab citizens and minorities?
I couldn't find a published position on Arab citizens or minorities.
What does Israel First say about immigration, absorption and the diaspora?
On immigration, absorption, or the diaspora, I found nothing published.
What every party says about immigration, absorption and the diaspora
What does Israel First say about the environment, energy and transportation?
I found no position on the environment, energy, or transportation.
What every party says about the environment, energy and transportation
What Israel First puts front and center
Besides the draft, it's cannabis. The fourth chapter of the work plan calls for full legalization, saying it's not the state's role to interfere with an adult's choices in his private time. The plan argues it would free police and courts for serious crime, cut off funding to organized crime, and create a taxed industry.4
The home page also lists reducing the state's involvement in citizens' lives.3
What Israel First hasn't published
They haven't published positions on October 7, housing, health, pensions, Arab citizens, immigration, or the environment, and nothing specific on the courts.
Sources
Everything above comes from what Israel First made public: its platform, website and official accounts, and on-the-record statements by its leaders. Each line was checked against a saved copy of its source. Most sources are in Hebrew.
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Transcript
The words as spoken in the episode, from its captions. Select a time to listen from there.
Full transcript
Intro
Israel First Work Plan says every citizen should serve, in the army or in civil national service, and that anyone who refuses would lose state benefits and housing assistance. This is Close Read, and this is a series of what Israel's parties are promising to do in their own published words for
About this series
English-speaking voters ahead of the October 27th election. One party per episode, and only uses the party itself as 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. Israel First, led by Sharon Haskell, Ballot Letter Yud, the Alei Yarok party joined them
Who they are
for a joint run, and it's Sharon Nir Yoptero, is number three on the list. Their website, israelfirst.co.il, has a homepage with principles and goals, and a
What they've published
page called the National Work Plan, which is their platform. The work plan has four chapters, security, economy, education, and civil liberty and legalization. It's written in Hebrew, and it isn't dated. I also went through Haskell's post on X and the party's X account for anything that states the policy. The work plan says they dismantle the terror infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon, fully
Security and foreign policy
demilitarize Hezbollah, destroy Hamas' governing and terror capabilities, and work to destable the regime in Iran, including, quote-unquote, active support for internal opposition forces. It calls for an official declaration canceling the Oslo Accords, saying terror groups violated them and they have no legal, security, or moral validity left. The homepage says, quote, there will be no territorial concessions, end quote. In August, the party posted from the Jordan Valley that the valley is inseparable from the state of Israel. They want to set up public diplomacy departments in the foreign and defense ministries, and a dedicated public diplomacy core in the IDF.
And in a September 8th post on X, Haskell wrote that Israeli industries, especially defense industries, should get incentives to bring work home or move it to friendly countries, and that countries that boycott Israelis should not expect business as usual. She directly named Great Britain. I could not find a published position on October 7th accountability.
October 7, Economy
The work plan would close and merge what it calls unnecessary government ministries, and abolish the post of minister without portfolio. It says Israel has more than 30 ministries, where the U.S. or Britain has 15 to 20. It calls for a, quote-unquote, drastic cut to the corporate tax rate, to attract foreign companies and bring Israelis back. It doesn't give a target rate. The homepage adds removing bureaucratic barriers and breaking up cartels and monopolies to lower the cost of living. I only could not find a housing policy in this area.
Housing
The only mention is that people who evade national service would lose housing assistance. Their ex-post came back to this topic several times, though. The work plan calls for an equal service law.
Religion and state
Anyone who does not serve in the IDF would be required to do a defined national service, period. People who evade that duty in the plan's words would lose eligibility for state benefits, special allowances, housing assistance, and affirmative action preferences. Combat soldiers and reservists would get welfare packages, grants, and what the plan calls absolute priority in state institutions. On September 28th, Haskell posted three comments from a party press conference. And number three was a draft law. I could not find a position on Shabbat, marriage, or conversion. Haskell wrote on X on September 15th that the judicial system, quote-unquote, must be
Judiciary and governance
fixed and then, quote, just not like this, only quietly through legislation, through parliamentary work, end quote. I couldn't find a specific proposal on the court's judicial selection or the Attorney General. On the topic of school vouchers, the work plan says the state would give every parent a yearly education voucher worth about
Education
60,000 shekels, and parents would pick the school it goes to. Principals would get full autonomy to hire teachers and set pay and bonuses by performance, not only seniority. On immigration, on absorption, or the
Immigration, absorption, and diaspora
diaspora, I found, nothing published. I found no position on the environment, on energy, or on transportation.
Environment, Front and center
Besides the draft, the only other major issue is cannabis. The fourth chapter of the work plan calls for full legalization, saying it's not the state's role to interfere with an adult's choices in their private time. The plan argues with free police and courts for serious crime, cut off funding to organize crime, and create a taxed industry. The homepage also lists reducing the state's involvement in citizens' lives. They have not published positions on October 7th in a state inquiry, housing, health,
What's missing
pensions, Arab citizens, immigration, or the environment, and nothing specific on the courts. That's what Israel First has put in writing as of this recording. Every source I use is linked in the description, most of them in Hebrews, you can read them yourself. If they publish more before October 27th, I'll do my best to pin an update in the comments. Next is list number eight, Garden of Eden, and the full playlist is linked below.
