A New Deal for Israel
My parents grew up in San Francisco and studied at Berkeley. They were hippy-esque liberals with little connection to Judaism or Israel.
Then came May 1967. Nasser threatened to destroy the tiny Jewish state. Something in them woke up. This small, faraway country, filled with people they had never met, became personal. They boarded the first flight to Israel after the war.
By making aliyah, they gave me the greatest gift of my life. The privilege of serving in the IDF, building Israeli startups and serving my people in public office.
They taught me never to take Israel for granted. I love Israel with all my heart and I’m optimistic. But I’m also worried.
This is our third Jewish state. Twice before, we lost our sovereignty because of “sinat chinam,” causeless hatred. Abraham Lincoln famously said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This is also a lesson of October 7th. Our enemies saw our internal division and attacked.
We have to do everything to make sure Israel remains strong, both internally and against our enemies. This is why I decided to return to politics. It’s what motivates me every day.
One of the greatest threats to our internal and external resilience is the Haredi state within Israel.
A third of first-graders attend Haredi schools that are anti-Zionist, anti-IDF and don’t teach math and English. During the next government’s term, more children will study at non-Zionist schools than Zionist ones.
We’re at a breaking point.
The consequences are already here. The IDF desperately needs 20,000 more soldiers. Meanwhile, 100,000 Haredi men are dodging the draft.
For years, we’ve grown accustomed to this deep injustice in Israel – those who give the most receive the least. The same people are carrying the army and the economy on their shoulders, but the benefits go to those who don’t serve and don’t work. I’m committed to bringing about historic change in the next government.
It’s time for a New Deal in Israel.
We’ll put the working and serving families at the center. Our plan is the only one that will work – cut all government benefits to those who choose not to serve and not to work. If you don’t serve, you don’t get a shekel from the government. If you don’t work, you don’t get a shekel. If you don’t teach the national core curriculum, you don’t get a shekel.
We’ll draft everyone. For 78 years, every deal, compromise and negotiation has failed. But incentives work. We’ll redirect NIS 30 billion in government benefits from draft evaders to those who serve, including up to NIS 1 million toward a first home, NIS 4,000 a month per child for daycare until age three, and 50 percent off electricity, public transportation, municipal taxes and government fees.
To support our Haredi brothers joining us in the IDF, we’ll build yeshivot along the borders with Jordan and Egypt. Soldiers will guard for eight hours, study for eight hours and sleep for eight hours. We’ll invest heavily in expanding excellent state-run Haredi schools that teach English, math, civics, Zionism and Torah. All our children will finally have a common Israeli story.
Haredi society will begin a process of integration that will reshape Israel. It will be like welcoming a wave of aliyah from within our own borders. The talent and ingenuity within Haredi society will join us in the workforce, helping build the next great startup or security innovation at Rafael.
We’ll cut the burden on reservists to 28 days a year. Reservists will finally be able to get back to their lives, and children will get their parents back. We’ll send our children to the army knowing that parents from all parts of Am Yisrael are also lying awake at night, praying for everyone to come home safely. Israel’s GDP will grow by tens of billions of shekels. Taxes will go down.
This is just one of our plans for the next government. As a former prime minister, before running for office, I spent two years preparing a national plan to rebuild Israel, together with eight teams of experts.
We’ll be hawkish on security. I oppose a Palestinian state and always have. We’ll declare Qatar an enemy state, kick it out of Gaza and dismantle Hamas. When we need to fight wars, they’ll be short and decisive. We’ll rebuild our alliances and work hard to reverse the collapse in Israel’s international standing.
We’ll rebuild our broken education system. Cut the layers of bureaucracy. Make sure the money reaches our children and the teachers who give their heart and soul. We’ll end the Wild West in early childhood education. These are the most important years in child development, but in Israel they’re also the most neglected. We’ll bring early childhood education under the responsibility of the Education Ministry and municipalities.
We’ll lower food prices by 30%. Too little competition and too much bureaucracy make Israel one of the most expensive places on earth, and for no good reason. We’ll break up monopolies, remove import barriers and open the market.
We’ll establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7th. Since that horrible day, I’ve attended more than 500 funerals. For the bereaved families and in order to prevent another catastrophic failure, we need clear answers.
We’ll establish a constitution so that we can argue without tearing down our shared home. We’ll set an eight-year term limit for the prime minister. The people of Israel are greater than any one leader.
To deliver these plans, we’ve built a dream team. The most successful CEOs in Israel, the most experienced ministers and parliamentarians, and heroes of October 7th who helped save this country and will now fight for us from the Knesset. People who have proven they know how to get things done. Among them are ten olim who chose to build their lives in Israel.
I know that change is possible because we’ve done it before. As prime minister and as minister of defense, education and economy, I’ve always led bold reforms. The sky is the limit.
In the government I led, we took the country from a NIS 160 billion deficit to a surplus, for the first time in 35 years. We slashed prices by increasing competition. We reversed a massive surge in crime and brought murders down by almost 20%. We doubled the number of students taking five-unit mathematics bagrut exams, including in the periphery.
Our team is ready. The plans are ready. We’re going to hit the ground running. In recent years, through the war and the division, something in the Israeli story has been lost. We’re going to bring it back. Israel will once again be a light unto the nations. But to repair the world, we must first repair ourselves.
Four years from now, I want us to look back and say that we chose hope. That we solved Israel’s greatest challenges. That we brought our people together. That we built a country worthy of the courage and sacrifice of our fallen. In a few days, you’ll have the opportunity to save Israel and to bring a New Deal to the country. I’m asking for your vote to make this happen.
Am Yisrael Chai!
