Most of the major parties in this election promise to break the monopolies that keep Israeli prices high.B'Yachad 5The Reservists and the Economic Party 11The Democrats 5 Very few tell you how they would pay for the rest of their plans, in a year when the defense bill keeps growing.I6I7 That gap is what this episode is about.
The positions come from what each party published. Where Ben Greenberg gives his own view, it is marked as his view, as it is on screen.
This is Close Read, and this is the last of five episodes where I put the major parties according to the latest polls side by side on one issue and tell you what I think. The positions come from the parties themselves, and when I'm giving my own view, you'll see it marked on screen.
The map
Some numbers first. Inflation over the past year was 1.6 percent, and home prices in July and August were 1.8 percent lower than a year earlier.I4I5 The problem is the level. In 2023, consumer prices in Israel were about 22 percent above the OECD average.I6
Here's where the thirteen parties land. Seven would lower prices mainly by opening the market: B'Yachad, Yashar, Amcha Yisrael, Yisrael Beiteinu, the Reservists, Likud and Religious Zionism-Zehut.B'Yachad 5Yashar 7Amcha Yisrael 1Yisrael Beiteinu 1The Reservists and the Economic Party 11Likud 1Religious Zionism-Zehut 1 Two want the state to do more of the work, the Democrats and the Joint List.The Democrats 5The Joint List 4 And four have published nothing on prices: Ra'am, United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit and Shas.Ra'am 23United Torah Judaism 4Otzma Yehudit 7Shas 14
Everyone wants to break the monopolies
B'Yachad would bar a large importer from distributing more than one monopoly brand.B'Yachad 5 The Reservists would cancel every customs duty and import quota on food and dismantle the agricultural production boards, "from the Dairy Board to the Honey Board."The Reservists and the Economic Party 11 Yisrael Beiteinu and Zehut would also scrap the production boards.Yisrael Beiteinu 1Religious Zionism-Zehut 1
Ben Greenberg's view Start with the agreement, because here it's close to a consensus. Parties that agree on almost nothing else say food costs too much because a few companies control it and import rules protect them. I think that's right.
Ben Greenberg's view So if everyone agrees, why are the production boards still there? Because every one of these reforms has someone who loses, from farmers to the big food companies to the kashrut system. B'Yachad is one of the few plans that names a loser and offers something in return, direct support for farmers in place of tariffs.B'Yachad 5 I'd want every party to say who loses and what they get, because that's where reforms like this get stuck.
Same words, different tools
"Break the monopolies" means different things depending on who says it. At a press conference on October 15, the Reservists' Yaron Zelekha said he would ban exclusive import deals and move the Competition Authority into the Finance Ministry under his supervision.I2 The Democrats name the food, medicine and energy cartels, and then propose expanding the list of price controlled goods.The Democrats 5
Ben Greenberg's view Those are opposite tools. Competition lowers a price because someone else can undercut you. Price control lowers it by order, and when the order sets it too low, the shelf goes empty. I can see controlling a few basics while the market opens up. But a plan that does both should tell me which one leads.
Ben Greenberg's view And putting the regulator under a minister gives the reform a powerful owner, and gives that minister a say over which companies get investigated. I'd want to know what protects it from the next one.
Two opposite tax cuts
On taxes, the market camp mostly cuts. The Reservists would bring VAT down from 18 percent to 12, one point a year, and the top income tax rate from 50 percent to 40.The Reservists and the Economic Party 11
The Joint List would also cut VAT, to 10 percent, saying it hurts the weakest families most, and exempt everyone earning up to the average wage from income tax. It would make the owners of capital and the big companies pay what it calls "real tax," including a 30 percent tax on financial gains.The Joint List 4
Ben Greenberg's view So the two lists furthest apart on economics both want a much lower VAT. They disagree about who makes up the money. The Joint List says the wealthy. The Reservists say mainly canceling subsidies for "tycoons" and making the budget more efficient.The Reservists and the Economic Party 11 On October 15, Zelekha added a freeze on budgetary pensions for current state employees and an end to coalition funds.I3 Those are real savings, but I haven't seen a number from either list that shows the savings or the new taxes cover the cut.
The bill nobody mentions
Now put this next to the budget. The Bank of Israel puts the cost of the war from 2023 through 2026 at about 350 billion shekels, and public debt reached 68.5 percent of GDP at the end of 2025.I9 The Finance Ministry's plan has 150 billion shekels for security and public order in 2027, and the prime minister intends to lock in more for 2027 and 2028.I7 On October 18, the government approved 2.5 billion shekels for urgent defense purchases, paid for with cuts to ministries including education, health and welfare.I8
Yisrael Beiteinu writes down a defense number: 25 billion shekels a year more, for ten years.Yisrael Beiteinu 1 When parties say where their money comes from, two answers keep coming up. One is closing ministries, but four that come up as examples, among them Heritage and Diaspora Affairs, got less than a billion shekels between them in 2026.I6 Coalition funds are bigger, about 5 billion.I6 The other answer is money tied to not serving. B'Yachad says its Service Law would come from coalition funds, yeshiva student stipends and closing ministries, "without increasing the deficit."B'Yachad 8 The Reservists want budgets moved "from the draft-evading public to the serving public."The Reservists and the Economic Party 2
Ben Greenberg's view This is where I think the plans are weakest. Defense is the biggest new cost in the budget, and almost none of the cost of living plans mention it. The savings they name are small next to it, or they come from money that goes to people who don't serve, which means the economic plan depends on winning the draft fight first. Maybe it will be won. But if your price cuts depend on it, say so.
Ben Greenberg's view In fairness, a party out of power doesn't have the Finance Ministry's numbers. But B'Yachad managed a figure for its Service Law, and a rough number from the others would tell me someone has done the math.
The parties in power have published less. Likud has run every election since 2019 without an economic platform, and Religious Zionism, whose leader has been finance minister for four years, has none of its own.I6
Housing: who goes first
On housing, almost everyone starts with supply: faster permits, more land, more urban renewal.B'Yachad 6Yisrael Beiteinu 1Amcha Yisrael 1United Torah Judaism 6 The surprise is who agrees about the Israel Land Authority. Degel HaTorah, one of the two parties in United Torah Judaism, told the Yedioth real estate supplement that the authority has turned the state into a "land speculator."I1 Yisrael Beiteinu and the Democrats told the same supplement that state land should be sold with an eye on the final price or on affordable housing, rather than on what the land fetches.I1
Where they split is who gets the apartment first. B'Yachad offers active reservists a benefit worth one million shekels toward an apartment.B'Yachad 6 Yisrael Beiteinu offers mortgages of up to 90 percent to couples where one spouse served.Yisrael Beiteinu 2 In August, Netanyahu announced a government program that raises the reservists' share of the discounted apartment lotteries to three quarters.Likud 10 The Joint List starts from the other end: "housing is a right," public housing for everyone without a home, and rent capped at 20 percent of a family's net income.The Joint List 4
Ben Greenberg's view After three years of reserve duty, rewarding the people who carried the load seems fair to me. But a voucher helps a buyer pay more, and if the apartments aren't built, a good part of that million ends up in the price. B'Yachad says it would set aside discounted apartments in every land tender, priced at market value minus the million, which is an attempt to deal with that.I1
Ben Greenberg's view On rent, the Joint List would cap it. Yashar and the Democrats would stop landlords passing the broker's fee on to tenants and push longer leases, without a cap across the market.Yashar 16I1 A hard cap protects the tenant who has a lease and can shrink the supply for the one still looking. I'd like to hear how the Joint List handles that.
The gaps
Shas posted what its labor minister did for reservists, and nothing for the next term on prices or housing.Shas 14 Otzma Yehudit's only economic item is higher pay for conscript soldiers, with no figure.Otzma Yehudit 7 United Torah Judaism calls "the war on the cost of living" one of its three focus areas, without naming a measure.United Torah Judaism 4 Ra'am's brochure covers housing in Arab towns, not prices.Ra'am 23 And wages come up in two plans: the Joint List would peg the minimum wage at 70 percent of the average wage, and the Democrats would raise it along with the negative income tax.The Joint List 4The Democrats 5
Ben Greenberg's view That's the gap I'd point to first. This campaign's cost of living debate is almost all about prices, and prices are half of it. The other half is what people earn, and that depends on who works and how productive that work is. Very few plans treat it as part of the cost of living, and I think it's the larger part.
Close
To sum up: seven parties would open the market, two want the state to build and to raise wages, and four have published nothing on prices.
Ben Greenberg's view The agreement on monopolies is real, and I hope whoever governs takes it seriously. The question I'd ask any candidate before tomorrow is the one most plans skip: with defense spending where it is, who pays for this?
Tomorrow is election day. Tomorrow morning, when the polls open, I'll have one last reflection for you.
Every source I used is linked in the description. The Close Read is free to watch, and if you'd like to support it, you'll find me at patreon.com/TheCloseRead, linked in the description.
Sources
New sources for this episode. A party's own sources are linked by name, to the list on that party's episode page.
- I1
- I2
- I3
- I4
- I5
- I6
- I7
- I8
- I9
Transcript
The words as spoken in the episode, from its captions. Select a time to listen from there.
Full transcript
Intro
Most of the major parties in this election promise to break the monopolies that keep Israeli prices high. Very few tell you how they would pay for the rest of their plans. In a year when the defense bill keeps growing, that gap is what this episode is about. This is Close Read, and this is the last of five episodes where I put the major parties, according to the latest polls, side by side on one issue and tell you what I think. The positions come from the parties themselves, and when I'm giving my own view, you'll see it marked on screen. Let's talk about some numbers first. Inflation over the past year was 1.6%, and
The map
home prices in July and August were 1.8% lower than a year earlier. The problem is the level. In 2023, consumer prices in Israel were about 22% above the OECD average. And here's where the 13 parties land. Seven would lower prices mainly by opening the market. Beyachad, Yashar, Amcha Yisrael, Yisrael, Beiteinu, the Reservist, Likud, and Religious Zionism, Zehut. Two want the state to do more of the work, the Democrats and the Joint List. And four have published nothing on prices. Ram, United Torah, Judaism, Otsma Yehudit, and Shas. Beyachad would bar a large importer from distributing more than one monopoly brand.
Everyone wants to break the monopolies
The Reservist would cancel every customs duty and import quote on food and dismantle the agricultural production boards. Quote, from the dairy board to the honey board. Yisrael, Beiteinu, and Zehut would also scrap the production boards. But let's start where they agree, because here it's as close to a consensus as you can get. Parties that agree on almost nothing else say food costs too much because a few companies control it and import rules protect them. And I think that's actually right. So if everyone agrees, why are the production boards still there? Because every one of these reforms has someone who loses. From farmers to the big food companies to the Kashrut system. Beyachad is one of the few plans that names a loser and offers something in return. Direct support for farmers in place of tariffs.
I'd want every party to say who loses and what they get, because that's where reforms like this get stuck. And break the monopoly means different things depending on who says it. At a press conference on the 15th of
Same words, different tools
October, the Reservist Yaron Zalecha said he would ban exclusive import deals and move the competition authority into the finance ministry under his supervision. The Democrats named the food, menace it, and energy cartels, and then proposed expanding the list of price-controlled goods. Now those are opposite tools. Competition lowers a price because someone else can undercut you. Price control lowers it by order, and when the order sets it too low, the shelf goes empty. I can see controlling a few basics while the market opens up, but a plan that does both should tell me which one leads. And putting the regulator under a minister gives the reform a powerful owner, and gives that minister a say over which companies get investigated. I'd want to know what protects it from the next one.
On taxes, the market camp mostly cuts. The Reservist would bring VAT down from 18%
Two opposite tax cuts
to 12, one point a year, and the top income tax rate from 50% to 40. The joint list would also cut VAT to 10%, saying it hurts the weakest families most, and exempt everyone earning up to the average wage from income tax. It would make the owners of capital and the big companies pay what it calls, quote, real tax, including a 30% tax on financial gains. So the two lists, furthest apart on economics, both want a much lower VAT. They disagree about who makes up the money. The joint list says the wealthy. The Reservists say mainly canceling subsidies for, quote, tycoons, and making the budget more efficient. On October 15th, Zelecha added a freeze on budgetary pensions for current state employees and an end to coalition funds. Now, those are real savings, but I haven't seen a number from either list that shows the savings or the new taxes cover the cut.
Now, put this next to the budget. The Bank of Israel puts the cost of the war from 2023 through 2026 at about 350 billion
The bill nobody mentions
shekels, and public debt reached 68.5% of GDP at the end of 2025. The finance ministry's plan is 150 billion shekels for security and public order for 2020 in 2027. And the prime minister intends to lock in more for 2027 and 2028. On October 18th, the government approved 2.5 billion shekels for urgent defense purchases, paid with cuts to ministries, including education, health, and welfare. Yisrael Beiteinu writes down a defense number. 25 billion shekels a year more for 10 years. When parties say where their money comes from, two answers keep coming up. One is closing ministries, but four that come up as examples among them, heritage and diaspora affairs get less than a billion shekels between them in 2026.
Coalition funds are bigger, about 5 billion shekels. And the other answer is money tied to not serving. The Yachad says its service law would come from coalition funds, yeshiva student stipends, and closing ministries, quote, without increasing the deficit. The reservists want budgets moved from, quote, the draft-evading public to the serving public, end quote. This is where I think the plans are weakest. Defense is the biggest new cost in the budget, and almost none of the cost-of-living plans mention it. The savings they name are small next to it, or they come from money that goes to people who don't serve, which means the economic plan depends on winning the draft fight first. And maybe it will be one, but if your price cut depends on it, say so. In fairness, a party out of power doesn't have the finance ministry's numbers, but Yachad managed a figure for its service law, and a rough number from the others would tell me that someone has actually done the math.
The parties who are in power right now have published even less. Likud has run every election since 2019 without an economic platform. And religious Zionism, whose leader has been finance ministry for four years, has none of its own. On housing, almost everyone starts with supply. Faster permits, more land, more urban renewal.
Housing: who goes first
The surprise is who agrees about the Israel Land Authority. Degel HaTorah, one of the two parties in United Torah Judaism, told the Yediot, real estate supplement, that the authority has turned the state into a, quote, land speculator. Yisrael Beiteinu and the Democrats told the same supplement that state land should be sold with an eye on the final price or on affordable housing, rather than on what the land fetches. Where they split is who gets the apartment first. Beyachad offers active reservists a benefit worth one million shekels toward an apartment. Yisrael Beiteinu offers mortgages of up to 90% to couples where one spouse served. In August, Netanyahu announced a government program. That raises the reservist share of the discounted apartment lotteries to three quarters. The joint list starts from the other end.
Quote, housing is a right. Public housing for everyone without a home. And rent capped at 20% of a family's net income. After three years of reserve duty, rewarding the people who carried the load does seem fair to me. But a voucher helps a buyer pay more. And if the apartments aren't built, a good part of that million ends up in the price. Beyachad says it would set aside discounted apartments in every land tender, priced at market value minus the million, which is an attempt to deal with that. On rent, the joint list would cap it. Yashar and the Democrats would stop landlords passing their broker's fee onto tenants and push longer leases without a cap across the market. A hard cap protects the tenant who has a lease and can shrink the supply for the one still looking. I would love to hear how the joint list would handle that.
Shas posted what its labor minister did for reservists and nothing for the next term on
The gaps
prices or housing. Otzma Yehudit Yehudit's only economic item is higher pay for conscripts soldiers with no figure. United toward Judaism calls, quote, the war on the cost of living, end quote, one of its three focus areas without naming a measure. Rahm's brochure covers housing in Arab towns, not prices. And wages come up in two plans. The joint list would peg the minimum wage at 70% of the average wage and the Democrats would raise it along with a negative income tax. That's the gap I point to first. This campaign's cost of living debate is almost all about prices. And prices are half of it. The other half is what people earn. And that depends on who works and how productive that work is. Very few plans treat it as part of the cost of living. And I think it's the larger part. To sum up, seven parties would open the market.
Two want the state to build and to raise wages.
Close
And four have published nothing on prices. The agreement on monopolies is very real. And I hope whoever governs it in the next government takes it seriously. The question I'd ask any candidate before the election tomorrow is the one most planned skip. With defense spending where it is, who pays for this? Tomorrow is election day. Tomorrow morning, when the polls open, I will have one last reflection for you. Every source I use is linked in the description. The Close Read has been free to watch and free to listen. And if you'd like to support this project, you can find me on Patreon at patreon.com slash thecloseread, linked in the description.
