The Reservists Party launched a campaign on Wednesday against haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Arab parties ahead of the elections, calling to stop those who do not serve in the IDF from voting or running for the Knesset.
The campaign also serves as a reference to a 2019 campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party that targeted journalists.
In that campaign, an image of four journalists appeared at the center alongside the text, “They won’t decide,” urging the public to vote for Netanyahu.
In the Reservists Party campaign, the party adopted the same slogan and visual style, but instead of journalists, placed images of four MKs from haredi and Arab parties.
Below them, the billboard displays the central slogan: “They won’t decide, the serving public will decide.”
It also states: “Whoever does not serve will not be able to vote or be elected to the Knesset.”
The billboard features United Torah Judaism MKs Yitzhak Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni, alongside Hadash-Ta’al leaders Ahmad Tibi and Ayman Odeh.
Reservists leader and former communications minister Yoaz Hendel said that in the elections, the serving public “will change the picture.”
“The elections will determine whether a government is formed that relies on ultra-Orthodox parties and Arab parties, or a Zionist government that relies on reservists,” he said.
Reservists party comprised of reserve soldiers, wounded veterans
Hendel’s party comprises reserve soldiers, their families, wounded veterans, bereaved families, and civilian volunteers. It was established in September 2025 ahead of elections scheduled to take place no later than this October.
The party positions itself as a response to the leadership vacuum following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and calls for universal conscription. Among its main principles is that it will not sit in a government with any party whose members do not serve in the IDF.
Hendel said that the Reservists Party is sick of “carrying the ultra-Orthodox and Arab public on our backs.”
“We’re fed up with the notion that they control coalition politics. We’re here to break that, because governments that rely on non-Zionist elements are extorted into making non-Zionist decisions,” he added.