The Pirate Party's website says it wants to get rid of the electoral threshold, the minimum share of the vote a party needs to enter the Knesset.34
Who is Pirate Party?
The Pirates, running as "The Pirates: floating toward good," ballot letters Tzadi Peh, a list of 24 approved candidates headed by Ohad Shem Tov.12
What has Pirate Party published?
There's no platform document written for this election. What they have is a website, piratim.org, with a short platform page on an open wiki, about 590 words.4 They also post a founding charter they call "the flag," which the page says was written in 20125, and a question and answer page.6 The home page quotes the platform.3 Their election page lists the candidates and three short videos.7 The site says the platform was written by members on the wiki over more than a decade, so this is a standing platform, and they don't date it.3
Pirate Party'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 Pirate Party say about security and foreign policy?
The platform lists "peace between all inhabitants of the land" as a goal.34 It has a section titled "war and peace," and the only text under it is a subheading, "peace, security, and love," and one line: "This used to have an audience," with a winking emoji.4 I couldn't find a published position on Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, the Palestinians, or the United States.
What does Pirate Party say about accountability for October 7?
I couldn't find a published position on October 7 accountability.
What does Pirate Party say about the economy and the cost of living?
On taxes, prices, wages, or the budget, I found nothing published.
What every party says about the economy and the cost of living
What does Pirate Party say about housing?
I found no position on housing.
What does Pirate Party say about religion and state?
The question and answer page lists "upgrading personal status laws and separating religion from politics" among the issues they'd push.6 Personal status law covers marriage and divorce. They don't say what the upgrade would be. I couldn't find a position on the Haredi draft.
What does Pirate Party say about the judiciary and governance?
This is where most of their material is. The home page and the platform both say they want to abolish the electoral threshold.34 The question and answer page gives a different number: lower the threshold to what it calls its natural level, 0.83 percent, and count blank ballots as votes for empty Knesset seats.6 Both are on the site today.
They call for internet elections, and they say they're addressing the roughly 40 percent of people who don't vote, and Israelis living abroad.3
They want what they call participatory democracy. They've named their own model "dynamicracy": members vote directly on decisions or hand their vote to someone they trust, and can take it back at any time. The platform says that if they're elected, the party will use this model.43
They also list transparency in how government decisions are made and in who is lobbying for what4, and, on the question and answer page, strengthening local government, limiting the powers of government, and changing and implementing Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.6 I couldn't find a position on the courts or on how judges are picked.
What does Pirate Party say about education?
The founding charter says education should be free in government institutions, salaries in the field should go up, and education should be a national priority.5
What does Pirate Party say about health?
The same line in the charter covers health: free in government institutions, higher salaries, national priority.5
What does Pirate Party say about social welfare, pensions and the elderly?
The platform lists services "for the whole life cycle, from birth to the end of days," naming education, culture, health, and welfare.4 I couldn't find anything specific on pensions or the elderly.
What every party says about social welfare, pensions and the elderly
What does Pirate Party say about Arab citizens and minorities?
I couldn't find a position specific to Arab citizens. The platform's freedom section says everyone should be free "without distinction of religion, race, sex, or operating system."4
What does Pirate Party say about immigration, absorption and the diaspora?
The internet voting idea is framed partly around Israelis abroad taking part in elections.3 I couldn't find a position on immigration or absorption.
What every party says about immigration, absorption and the diaspora
What does Pirate Party say about the environment, energy and transportation?
They list protecting water sources, nature, and the environment.45 I couldn't find a position on energy or transportation.
What every party says about the environment, energy and transportation
What Pirate Party puts front and center
Free high speed internet for everyone, which they call "a basic democratic right."54
Complete legalization of cannabis.4
And intellectual property. The charter says copyright and patent law should protect creators and stop protecting old business models, and the platform says the public benefit of a work has to be balanced against the creator's right to make a living from it.54 Privacy and freedom of expression are listed next to it.4
One campaign ad, posted on YouTube on September 28, has a one-line description: "This country is a tree. Stop taking!"9
What Pirate Party hasn't published
They haven't published positions on security beyond the peace goal, October 7, the economy, housing, the draft, the courts, Arab citizens, energy, or transportation.
Sources
Everything above comes from what Pirate Party 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
The Pirate Party's website says it wants to get rid of the electoral threshold, the minimum share of the vote a party needs to enter the Knesset. This is Close Read, and this is a series about what Israel's parties are promising to do in their own published words for English-speaking voters ahead of the October 27th election. One party per episode. I only use what the party itself has 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. The Pirates, running as The Pirates Floating Towards Good, ballot letters Saudi pay, a
Who they are
list of 24 proof candidates headed by Ohad Shemtov. There's no platform document written for this election. What they have is a website, piratim.org,
What they've published
with a short platform page on an open wiki, about 600 words or so. They also post a founding charter they call The Flag, which the page says was written in 2012, and a question-and-answer page. The homepage quotes the platform. Their election page lists the candidates and three short videos. That site says the platform was written by members on the wiki over more than a decade. So this is a standing platform, and they don't give it a specific date. The platform lists quote-unquote peace between all inhabitants of the land as a goal. It has a section titled War and Peace, and the only text under it is a subheading, Peace, Security, and Love, and one line. This used to have an audience with a winking emoji. I couldn't find a published position on Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, the Palestinians, or the United States.
October 7, Economy: no stated position
I could not find a published position on October 7th accountability. On taxes, prices, wages, or the budget, I found nothing published. I found no position on housing. The question-and-answer page lists
Housing, Religion and state
quote-unquote upgrading personal status laws and separating religion from politics among the issues they'd push. Personal status law covers marriage and divorce. They don't say what the upgrade would be. I couldn't find a position on the Haredi draft. This is where most of their material is. The homepage and the platform both say they
Judiciary and governance
want to abolish the electoral threshold. The question-and-answer page gives a different number. Lower the threshold to what it calls its natural level, 0.83%, and count blank ballots as votes for empty Knesset seats. Both of those are on their site today. They call for internet elections, and they say they're addressing the roughly 40% of people who don't vote and Israelis living abroad. They want what they call participatory democracy. They've named their own model, dynamocracy. Model members vote directly on decisions or hand their vote to someone they trust and can take it back at any time. The platform says that if they're elected, the party will use this model.
They also list transparency in how government decisions are made and in who is lobbying for what. And on the question-and-answer page, strengthening local government, limiting the powers of government, and changing and implementing basic law, human dignity, and liberty. I could not find a position on the courts or on how judges are picked. The founding charter says education should be free in government institutions, salaries in the field should go up, and education
Education
should be a national priority. The same line in the charter covers health, free in government institutions, higher salaries, national priority.
Health, Welfare
The platform lists services for, quote-unquote, the whole life cycle, from birth to the end of days, end quote, naming education, culture, health, and welfare. I could not find anything specific on pensions or the elderly. I couldn't find a position specific to Arab citizens. The platform's freedom section says everyone
Arab citizens and minorities
should be free, quote-unquote, without distinction of religion, race, sex, or operating system, end quote. The internet voting ideas frame partly around Israelis abroad taking part in elections, but I couldn't find a position on
Immigration, Environment
immigration or absorption. They list protecting water sources, nature, and the environment. I couldn't find a position on energy or on transportation. Free high-speed internet for everyone, which they call, quote-unquote, a basic democratic right.
What they put front and center
And the complete legalization of cannabis is a core part of their proposals. And intellectual property as well. The charter says copyright and patent law should protect creators and stop protecting old business models. And the platform says the public benefit of a work has to be balanced against the creator's right to make a living from it. Privacy and freedom of expression are listed next to it. We have one campaign ad. It was posted on YouTube on September 28th. And it has a one-line description. Quote, unquote, this country is a tree. Stop taking.
End quote. They haven't published positions on security and the peace goal.
What's missing
October 7th on the economy, on housing, on the draft, on the courts, on Arab citizens, on energy, or on transportation. That's what the Pirate Party has put in writing as of this recording. Every source I use is linked in the description, most of them in Hebrew, so you can read them yourself. If they publish more before October 27th, Election Day, I will pin an update in the comments. Next is list number six, Amcha Yisrael. And the full playlist is linked below.
