The Reservists Party, led by former communications minister Yoaz Hendel, has outlined its Returning from the Battlefield program ahead of the upcoming elections, aimed at addressing post-traumatic stress disorder nationwide following the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023 and the ensuing war.
Hendel presented the main points of the national post-trauma plan during a Sunday press conference alongside members of the Reservists Party who were wounded physically and mentally in combat
The plan was said to be written with the assistance of mental health professionals, experts in supporting disabled IDF veterans, and combat soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Hendel’s party is composed of reserve soldiers, their families, wounded veterans, bereaved families, and civilian volunteers. Reservists was established in September 2025, ahead of national elections scheduled to take place no later than October this year.
The party presents itself as a response to the leadership vacuum following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and advocates for universal conscription. Among its central principles is a refusal to join any government that includes parties whose members do not serve in the IDF.
Reservists has also recently launched a campaign against haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Arab parties ahead of the elections, calling to bar those who do not serve in the IDF from voting and from running for Knesset.
At the core of the PTSD initiative, the party proposes legislation establishing a dedicated fund for rehabilitation with an annual budget of approximately NIS 1 billion.
Ministerial committee, 'big brother' support program, and accommodations after combat
The plan includes establishing a ministerial committee for IDF personnel wounded physically or struggling mentally.
It also calls for a “big brother” support program which would provide emotional, legal, and rehabilitative assistance, as well as making processing and resilience workshops an integral part of reserve service.
Additional components of the plan include academic assistance and accommodations after combat, along with reintegration into employment. It would also regulate the legal fees charged by attorneys and push for the creation of a council for NGOs working in the field of PTSD.
Hendel said while presenting the plan that “the most important national mission for us is a generation that has experienced the most difficult war we have known.”
“Hundreds of days, high intensity, complex missions, and difficult sights. It is heavy and difficult for anyone, and returning home from battle is a mission that not everyone understands how complex it is,” he said.
He added that there are thousands of people in the country who cannot return to routine life, relationships, work, “or even the simple aspects of everyday living.”
“The serving public is also the productive public, the engine of the economy. The people of Israel, as usual, create solutions when the state is absent, with the help of amazing organizations, but this cannot be the working plan.”
Hendel called on all Zionist parties to sign onto the framework so it could be passed as quickly as possible.
Shlomi Damari, a bereaved family member and reserve combat soldier, also spoke about the struggle of returning from combat.
“There are wars that end on the day the firing stops. And some wars continue long after the battle is over. I know, in my own body, the sleepless nights. The heart palpitations. The silence that no one hears. There are people among us walking around with a bleeding soul, with an invisible injury,” he said. “And we must not accept this. And we must not get used to it. And we must not ignore it.”
Damari called on the government and all state institutions to adopt the plan.
“This is not a political issue. It is a matter of human life. Whoever knew how to send us to fight must also know how to fight for us when we return,” he said.
Tehila Peretz, a reserve casualties officer, noted, regarding nationwide PTSD, that the country has “never faced an event of this magnitude.”
“The state called us to fight, and now we demand that it be there for those who need it on the day after as well,” said.