26th Knesset · 27 October 2026
ישראל תחילה
Israel Techila — ישראל תחילה — is the party Sharren Haskel founded on 15 July 2026, the day after she resigned as Deputy Foreign Minister rather than vote for a law that excused one community from the draft while everybody else kept going back. It runs for the 26th Knesset on a joint list with Aleh Yarok.
Security · Economy · Unity · Healthסוף מעשה במחשבה תחילה
The ballot says Israel First, and that is the name — on the slip, on the posters, in every language. But the Hebrew carries something the English cannot quite reach. תחילה is not a ranking. It is the word in סוף מעשה במחשבה תחילה — the last in deed is the first in thought — the thing conceived at the outset and built toward at the end. What comes first in thought is the purpose, not the precedence. A country that remembers what it was for is a country that can be governed toward it. That is the reading behind the name, and it is the reason this list exists.
What the party is for
A broad Zionist coalition that does not have to buy the haredi parties or the Arab parties to reach sixty-one, whoever is prime minister. The party has said it is not running for the premiership — it is running to make a functioning majority possible.
The draft-exemption law is the reason this party exists. Service obligations should fall on citizens as citizens, not be negotiated away sector by sector in a coalition agreement.
Lower the cost of living by removing the regulation that protects incumbents; leave people alone in their private lives. Free markets and civil liberties are the same argument made twice.
What Aleh Yarok brings to the list: cannabis and psychedelic medicine treated as health policy and research policy rather than as a police matter — including for the soldiers, reservists and civilians carrying trauma out of this war.
On 3 September 2026, at the Israel Techila launch event in Tel Aviv, Aleh Yarok and Israel Techila announced they would run together for the 26th Knesset. Aleh Yarok chairman Nir Yufturo stands at seat 3; Rabbi Tzvi Yoel (Harry) Rozenberg at seat 7.
Health · Strong mind, strong people
Whoever is mentally wounded does not wait in line. Healthy people. A stronger Israel.
Israeli citizens can donate to the campaign up to the legal cap of ₪1,700. Everyone else is barred from funding an Israeli party — so instead you can sponsor a caravan for someone living with post-traumatic stress, through a registered aid entity that is separate from the party. Two routes, kept deliberately apart.
The honest part
The electoral threshold is 3.25% — roughly four seats. Polling through August put Israel Techila well below it, which is exactly why the joint list with Aleh Yarok exists: two parties that each have a real constituency and neither of which clears the bar alone. We would rather tell you that than have you find it out from somebody else. A vote here is a bet that the bar is reachable, and the bet is decided by turnout, not by pundits.