This list is two parties sharing one ballot, and they never wrote a joint platform. Zehut's platform says the first law it would pass renames the country "Israel: the State of the Jewish People." Religious Zionism's judicial plan, released September 15, would end the state's right to appeal a criminal acquittal.
Who is Religious Zionism-Zehut?
This is the joint list of Religious Zionism, led by Bezalel Smotrich, and Zehut, led by Moshe Feiglin.11 They're on the ballot under the letter Tet.13
What has Religious Zionism-Zehut published?
First thing to know: there is no joint platform. When they announced the joint run in a video statement on September 1, Smotrich said the two of them may not agree on everything, and that the merger lets each of them keep "his identity, his path and his worldview."11 So this episode covers two sets of documents, and I'll tell you which party each position comes from.
Zehut has the longer written platform. The 2026 edition is called "Returning the State to the People: Israel, Operating Instructions."1 Its website has a 24-page summary PDF and a chapter-by-chapter overview.13 The full version runs 188 pages, and you only get it after you register, so I worked from the summary and the website.3 Zehut says this platform builds on the one it ran on in 2019.
Religious Zionism hasn't published a full platform for this election. Its website menu lists three plans: one for the Negev and Galilee, one for reservists, and one for the justice system.978 The judicial plan is a 14-page PDF dated September 15, and it's now also a page on the party's site, where it's called the Rothman plan.614 The English site still hosts its platform from 2022, and because that one's from a past election, I'm leaving it out.10
Religious Zionism-Zehut'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 Religious Zionism-Zehut say about security and foreign policy?
Zehut's platform says the October 7 attack exposed the "wretchedness" of what it calls the "rounds and containment" approach. Its replacement doctrine is that in any part of the Land of Israel that Israel is attacked from, it applies "conquest, expulsion and settlement."
Concretely, Zehut would cancel the Oslo Accords. In Gaza, the plan is conquest, expulsion and settlement. In Judea and Samaria, Israel would take full and exclusive control and apply full sovereignty. Arab residents would get three options, and the one listed first is "a generous emigration package." The other two are permanent residency, or citizenship after close examination and proof of loyalty. The website adds that no additional Arab state will ever be established between the Jordan and the sea.3
On the region, Zehut names Iran, Egypt and Turkey as a strategic threat. It says Israel should hit Iran's military and leadership and also its civilian infrastructure, which it says funds the drive to destroy Israel. It would also demand that Egypt withdraw from Sinai, and publicly support the Kurds and Druze against Turkey. It wants to phase out American military aid and pay for defense itself. It would leave the UN. It says hostages would be freed only by military means, and that Zehut will not negotiate for them. It would abolish administrative detention. It also says an enemy who breaks moral norms "will be put to death without trial." And it would close units it calls "progressive," naming the IDF Spokesperson's Unit and Army Radio, along with units it says weaken the Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria, naming COGAT.
From Religious Zionism, in the joint video announcement, Smotrich listed decisive victory on all fronts and preventing what he called "an Arab terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel."11 Its reservists plan aims to cut the number of reserve days, and one step is bringing back about 50,000 soldiers who aren't currently assigned to active reserve units.8
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about accountability for October 7?
I couldn't find a published position from either party on a state commission of inquiry.
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about the economy and the cost of living?
Zehut wants a flat income tax at one low rate and a corporate tax cut. It would phase out import tariffs and quotas, and scrap the agricultural production quotas and production boards for eggs, milk and honey. It would cut government ministries from 31 to 11 and abolish the office of the President. In a Telegram post on September 29, Feiglin asked why a dairy farmer can't sell his milk directly to his neighbors, and wrote that it's time to free farmers and let consumers choose.12
On economics, Religious Zionism's published material is narrower: its Negev and Galilee plan offers entrepreneurs and business owners a tax environment and incentives for activity in those regions.7
What every party says about the economy and the cost of living
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about housing?
Zehut's answer to housing is breaking up the Israel Land Authority's control of land. The PDF says state land would be released and handed "directly to the citizens of Israel," and planning would move to local communities. Its website puts it differently, saying state land would be allotted by lottery "to every Jewish family."3 It would also cancel the purchase tax on homes.3
Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan calls for 20 new communities in the Galilee, 20 in the Negev, and dozens of farms. The goal it states is one million more Jewish residents in those regions.7 Its reservists plan gives reservists priority in discounted-housing programs and in public housing.8
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about religion and state?
This is where the two documents differ most, so I'll take them one at a time.
Zehut would amend the Law of Return toward what it calls a "national-halakhic" definition of who is Jewish. State bodies like the IDF would keep Shabbat except for operational needs and serve kosher food, while privatized companies would leave that decision to the owner. State funding for yeshivas and for the humanities would come down together, gradually. On the military, Zehut proposes about one month of compulsory service for everyone: basic training, then home with a weapon and a gun safe, "as in Switzerland," followed by short reserve duty every year.
Religious Zionism's reservists plan includes a national plan for Haredi enlistment. It would fund Haredi pre-military academies and Haredi hesder yeshivas, enlarge the Hasmonean Brigade, and add more Haredi combat units.8 It also proposes a "Basic Law: Those Who Serve," which would give reservists and their spouses priority in housing programs, daycare, university admission and civil-service jobs.8 Its principle, in its words: whoever serves more gets much more, and whoever serves less or doesn't serve gets much less.8
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about the judiciary and governance?
Religious Zionism's judicial plan is titled "Releasing the Block," and it describes the plan as the continuation of what it calls the "repair" of the justice system.
Under the plan, the split of the attorney general's job would be completed: a government legal adviser who is a position of trust, and a separate, independent chief prosecutor. Ministry legal advisers would become ministers' appointees. All of Israel's judges would elect the Supreme Court president by secret ballot, candidates would get public hearings, and a computer would assign judges to panels at random. Appointments committees would be abolished, and ministers could appoint up to half of senior civil service posts. The plan would limit how long investigations can run, end the state's right to appeal an acquittal, and delete the offense of breach of trust. On elections, it proposes a lower threshold and a "semi-open" ballot where voters can influence the order of a party's candidates. It also proposes a "French law" that would defer criminal proceedings for prime ministers and ministers on certain offenses until they leave office.
Zehut's platform goes in a different direction on the Supreme Court: justices would be elected directly by the public once every ten years. The court could not strike down Knesset laws, and the reasonableness standard would be gone. The attorney general would be an adviser only, hired and fired by the government. And a referendum law would put far-reaching diplomatic decisions to a direct public vote.
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about education?
Zehut would move to education vouchers, paid for from the current budget, with parents choosing the school. The voucher comes with a reduced core curriculum, and the website says families who opt out of core subjects don't get the voucher.3
Religious Zionism's plans touch education only through priority university admission for reservists and the Haredi academies in its enlistment plan.8
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about health?
Zehut would leave the World Health Organization and investigate how health officials handled COVID. It wants more competition in the health market, and it would make it easier to bring in immigrant doctors who meet medical standards. It would also ban what it calls "affirmative action" in hiring doctors from the Arab sector, which it says lowers professional standards.
I couldn't find a published 2026 health position from Religious Zionism.
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about social welfare, pensions and the elderly?
Zehut would encourage people to buy private insurance, with National Insurance kept as the safety net. It would cancel the income-supplement benefit, which it says punishes people who worked and saved, and it says no essential benefit would be taken from anyone entitled to it.
Religious Zionism's welfare material is the reservists' benefits package I already covered.8
What every party says about social welfare, pensions and the elderly
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about Arab citizens and minorities?
Zehut says every resident has equal human rights, but national rights in Israel belong only to the Jewish people. On its website: Arab citizens who accept Israel as a Jewish state live with equality before the law, and those who don't can choose "voluntary emigration" with compensation.3 In its answer on Druze, Christians and other minorities, it puts it as a formula: "Loyalty to the Jewish state equals full rights. Hostility equals no political rights."3 It would treat protection rackets as terrorism and work to revoke the citizenship of those involved and their first-degree relatives. Feiglin posted on Telegram on September 28 that the Bedouin areas he says are in armed revolt in the south should be declared closed military zones, with every illegal compound demolished.12
Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan is titled "Judaizing the Negev and Galilee."7 It would cancel plans that create what it calls Arab territorial contiguity, on the principle that "land we don't hold, the Arabs will hold."7 Against organized crime, it proposes an emergency temporary law that would define illegal weapons possession as terrorism, bring in the Shin Bet, and use administrative detention. It gives the goal as "dismantling the armed Arab autonomy."7 That's one place the two documents differ: Zehut's platform abolishes administrative detention, and this plan uses it.7
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about immigration, absorption and the diaspora?
Zehut wants to encourage aliyah by individuals and whole communities, and to change the Law of Return, as I mentioned. Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan includes a dedicated absorption track for new immigrants.7
What every party says about immigration, absorption and the diaspora
What does Religious Zionism-Zehut say about the environment, energy and transportation?
Zehut would pull Israel out of international climate commitments and end subsidies for renewable energy. It wants more gas exploration and small nuclear reactors for electricity. On transport, it wants full competition, room for services like Uber, and a network of autonomous cars.
I couldn't find a 2026 position from Religious Zionism on these topics.
What every party says about the environment, energy and transportation
What Religious Zionism-Zehut puts front and center
For Zehut, it's the renaming of the state, which it calls its first law. Its platform also names the Temple as the source behind all of its plans, and says the Temple will be built together, not by coercion. It also has a section on the right to bear arms: every army veteran without a violent record would be eligible for a license, and discharged soldiers would keep their weapons.
For Religious Zionism, it's the three plans in its site menu: the Negev and Galilee, reservists, and the judicial system.9
What Religious Zionism-Zehut hasn't published
I couldn't find a position from either party on a state commission of inquiry into October 7. I also couldn't find a 2026 Religious Zionism position on health, the environment, energy or transportation, or a general economic or education plan. The two parties never published a joint platform, so on the draft, the Supreme Court and administrative detention, their documents point in different directions.
Sources
Everything above comes from what Religious Zionism-Zehut 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
This list is two parties sharing one ballot, and they never wrote a joint platform. Zahoud's platform says the first law it would pass renames the country, Israel, the state of the Jewish people. Religious Zionism's judicial plan, released September 15th, would end the state's right to appeal a criminal acquittal. 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. I only use 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, then that is the episode. This is the joint list of Religious Zionism, led by B'Tzalos Motrich and Zahoud, led by
Who they are
Moshe Feiglin. They're on the ballot under the letter Tet. First thing to know, there is no joint platform. When they announced a joint run in a video statement on September 1st, Smotrich said
What they've published
the two of them may not agree on everything, and that the merger lets each of them keep, quote, his identity, his path, and his worldview. So this episode is going to cover two sets of documents, and I'll tell you which party each position comes from. Zahoud has the longer written platform. The 2026 edition is called, quote, returning the state to the people, Israel operating instructions, end quote. Its website has a 24-page summary PDF and a chapter-by-chapter overview. The full version runs 188 pages, and you only get it after you register. So, like for every other platform, I only take what's publicly available.
So, I worked from the summary and the website. Zahoud says this platform builds on the one it ran in 2019. Religious Zionism hasn't published a full platform for this election. Its website menu lists three plans, one for the Negev and the Galilee, one for Reservis, and one for the justice system. The Judicial Plan is a 14-page PDF dated September 15th, and it's now also a page on the party site where it's called the Rothman Plan. The English site still hosts its platform from 2022. And because that's one from a past election, I'm going to leave it off. Zahoud's platform says the October 7th attack exposed, quote, the wretchedness, end
Security and foreign policy
quote, of what it calls, quote, the rounds and containment, end quote, approach. Its replacement doctrine is that in any part of the land of Israel that Israel is attacked from, it applies, quote, conquest, expulsion, and settlement. Concretely, Zehout would cancel the Oslo Accords. In Gaza, the plan is conquest, expulsion, and settlement. In Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, Israel would take full and exclusive control and apply full sovereignty. Arab residents would get three options, and the one listed first, quote, is a generous emigration package, end quote. The other two are permanent residency or citizenship after a close examination and proof of loyalty.
The website adds that no additional Arab state will ever be established between the Jordan and the sea. On the region, Zehout names Iran, Egypt, and Turkey as a strategic threat. It says Israel should hit Iran's military leadership and also its civilian infrastructure, which it says funds the drive to destroy Israel. It would also demand that Egypt withdraw from Sinai and publicly support the Kurds and the Druze against Turkey. It wants to phase out American military aid and pay for defense itself. It would leave the United Nations entirely. It says hostages would be freed only by military means and that Zehout will not negotiate for them. It would abolish administrative detention.
It also says the enemy who breaks moral norms will be, quote, put to death without trial, end quote. And it would close units it calls, quote, progressive, naming the IDF Spokesperson's Unit and Army Radio. Along with units it says weaken the Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria, naming Kogat. From Religious Zionism, in the joint video announcement, Smotrich listed decisive victory on all fronts and preventing what he called, quote, an Arab terror state in the heart of the land of Israel, end quote. Its reservist plan aims to cut the number of reserve days and one step is bringing back about 50,000 soldiers who aren't currently assigned to active reserve duty. I couldn't find a public position from either party on a state commission of inquiry.
Zehout wants a flat income tax at one low
October 7, Economy
rate and a corporate tax cut. It would phase out import tariffs and quotas and scrap the agricultural production quotas and production boards for eggs, milk, and honey. It would cut government ministries from 31 to 11 and abolish the office of the president. In a Telegram post on the 29th of September, Feiglin asked why a dairy farmer can't sell his milk directly to his neighbors and wrote that it's time to free farmers and let consumers choose. On economics, Religious Zionism's published material is narrower. Its Negev and Galilee plan offers entrepreneurs and business owners a tax environment and incentives for activity in those regions.
Zehout's answer to housing is breaking up the Israel Land Authority's control of land. The PDF says state land would be released
Housing
and handed directly to the citizens of Israel and planning would move to local communities. Its website puts it differently, saying state land would be allotted by lottery quote, to every Jewish family. It would cancel the purchase tax on homes. Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan calls for 20 new communities in the Galilee, 20 in the Negev, and dozens of farms. The goal it states is 1 million more Jewish residents in those regions. Its reservist plan gives reservist priority in discounted housing programs and in public housing. Now, the next area is where the two documents differ the most, so I'll take them one at a time. Zehout would amend the law of return toward
Religion and state
what it calls a, quote, national halachic definition of who is Jewish. State bodies like the IDF would keep Shabbat, except for operational needs, and serve kosher food, while privatized companies would leave that decision to the owner. State funding for yeshivas and for the humanities would come down together gradually. On the military, Zehout proposes about one month of compulsory service for everyone. Basic training, then home with a weapon and a gun safe. Quote, as in Switzerland, end quote. Religious Zionism's reservist plan includes a national plan for Haredi enlistment. It would fund Haredi pre-military academies and Haredi Hester yeshivas, enlarge the Hasmonean brigade, and add more Haredi combat units.
It also opposes a new basic law, those who serve, which would give reservists and their spouses priority in housing programs, daycare, university admission, and civil service jobs. Its principle, in its words, whoever serves more gets much more, and whoever serves less or who doesn't serve gets much less. Religious Zionism's judicial plan is titled, quote, Under the plan, the split of the
Judiciary and governance
Attorney General's job would be completed. A government legal advisor who is a position of trust, and a separate independent chief prosecutor. Ministry legal advisors would become ministers' appointees. All of Israel's judges would elect the Supreme Court president by secret ballot. Candidates would get public hearings, and a computer would assign judges to panels at random. Appointments committees would be abolished, and ministers could appoint up to half of senior civil service posts. The plan would limit how long investigations can run, end the state's right to appeal an acquittal, and delete the offense of breach of trust. On elections, it proposes a lower threshold and a, quote, semi-open ballot where voters can influence the order of a party's candidates.
It also opposes a, quote, French law, end quote, that would defer criminal proceedings for prime ministers and ministers on certain offenses until they leave office. Zahoud's platform goes in a different direction on the Supreme Court. Justices would be elected directly by the public once every 10 years. The court could not strike down Knesset laws, and the reasonableness standard would be gone. The attorney general would be an advisor only, hired and fired by the government, and a referendum law would put far-reaching diplomatic decisions to a direct public vote. Zahoud would move to education vouchers, paid for from the current budget, with parents choosing the school. The voucher comes with a reduced core curriculum, and the website says families who opt out of core subjects don't get the voucher.
Religious Zionism's plan touched education only through priority university admissions for reservists and the Haredi Academies in its enlistment plan. Zahoud would leave the World Health Organization and investigate how health officials handled the COVID-19 epidemic. It wants more competition in the health market, and it would make it easier to bring in immigrant doctors who meet medical standards. It would also ban what it calls, quote, affirmative action, end quote, in hiring doctors from the Arab sector, which it says lowers professional standards. I couldn't find a published 2026 health position from Religious Zionism. Zahoud would encourage people to buy private insurance, with national insurance kept as the safety net.
It would cancel the income supplement benefit, which it says punishes people who worked and saved, and it says no essential benefit would be taken from anyone entitled to it. Religious Zionism's welfare material is the reservist benefit package that I had already mentioned. Zahoud says every resident has equal human rights, but national rights in Israel belong only to the Jewish people. On its website, Arab citizens who accept Israel as a Jewish state live with equality before the law, and those who don't can choose, quote, voluntary emigration with compensation. In its answer on Druze, Christians, and other minorities, it puts a formula, quote, loyalty to the Jewish state equals full rights. Hostility equals no political rights, end quote. It would treat protection rackets as terrorism and work to revoke the citizenship of those involved and their first-degree relatives.
Feiglin posted on Telegram on December 28th at the Bedouin areas he says are an armed revolt in the south should be declared closed military zones with every illegal compound demolished. Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan is titled, quote, Judaizing the Negev and Galilee. It would cancel plans that create what it calls Arab territorial contiguity on the principle that, quote, land we don't hold, the Arabs will hold, end quote. Against organized crime, it proposes an emergency temporary law that would define illegal weapons possession as terrorism, bring in the shinbet, and use administrative detention. It gives the goal as, quote, dismantling the armed Arab autonomy. That's one place the two documents differ. Zehud's platform abolishes administrative detention and this plan uses it.
Zehud wants to encourage Aliyah by individuals and whole communities and to change the law of return as I mentioned.
Immigration, absorption, and diaspora
Religious Zionism's Negev and Galilee plan includes a dedicated absorption track for new immigrants. Zehud would pull Israel out of international climate commitments and end subsidies for
Environment, energy, and transportation
renewable energy. It wants more gas exploration and small nuclear reactors for electricity. On transport, it wants full competition, room for services like Uber, and a network of autonomous cars. I couldn't find a 2026 position from Religious Zionism on the question around religion and state specifically around the temple. For Zehud, it's the renaming of the state, which it calls its first law. Its platform also names the temple as the
What they put front and center
source behind all of its plans. And it says the temple will be built together, not by coercion. It also has a section on the right to bear arms. Every army veteran would, without a violent record, be eligible for a license, and discharged soldiers would keep their weapons. For Religious Zionism, it's the three plans in its site menu, the Negev and the Galilee, reservists, and the judicial system. I couldn't find a position from either party on a state commission of inquiry into October 7th. I also couldn't find a 2026 Religious
What's missing
Zionism position on health, the environment, energy, or transportation, or a general economic or education plan. The two parties never published a joint platform. So on the draft, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Detention, their documents point in different directions. That's what Religious Zionism and Zuhud have 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 the election, I'll do my best to put an update in the comments. Next is list number 32, the Achi Movement, and the full playlist is linked below. The Close Read is free to watch and to listen, and if you'd like to support it, you can find me on Patreon at patreon.com slash thecloseread, linked in the description.
