Homeland vision

Israeli activist Matan Yaffe, 40, isn’t afraid of a fight. In 2013, when Bedouin in the Negev tried to steal his motorcycle, he pointed a gun to chase them off—but later started Desert Stars, a leadership training program for local Bedouin youth. As a Harvard Kennedy School student in 2023, he refused a professor’s request that he stop describing Israel as a “liberal and Jewish democracy.” When the professor threatened consequences, Yaffe sued the school for anti-Semitism.

So it was perhaps natural that, in January 2023, when Israeli lawmakers proposed judicial reform to curb the power of Israel’s highest court, Yaffe was among the thousands who took to the streets to protest the measure. In joining the bitter political demonstrations, Yaffe’s goal was to defend the checks and balances of Israeli democracy.

Then came the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Amid the resulting war in Gaza and impending threat of a similar invasion of Hezbollah’s forces from Lebanon, Yaffe was deployed as a reservist to Israel’s northern border. As they served together, he and fellow soldiers began to dialogue, finding common ground despite their politically differing views.

Today, he is one of the leaders of El HaDegel (“To the Flag”), an aspiring new political party that emphasizes a return to Israel’s ideological roots as a democratic Jewish state. He and fellow reservists who founded the party believe that the political hostility of the judicial reform protests was a mistake: “We tore each other and the nation apart.”

Traditionally, the left and right in Israel were defined by their support for or rejection of the Oslo peace process and its land-for-peace approach to settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More recently, political alignments have been defined by support or opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government. For many Israelis, the Oct. 7 invasion shattered any vision of a two-state solution. Now, new political leaders like Yaffe—and some longtime ones—are seeking to leave behind the old lines of division and unite behind a common goal: a safe and prosperous Jewish homeland.

The socialist Labor Party dominated politics in Israel until 1977, when Likud rose to power, rejecting socialist ideology and promoting a free market. Netanyahu of the Likud party is in his sixth term and heads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. After a cycle of five elections between 2019 and 2022, Israel’s political climate became increasingly polarized and populist. In planning its attack, Hamas took advantage of Israel’s internal strife.

Fighting side by side on the front lines, reservists from across Israeli society had opportunity to talk, listen, and better understand one another, according to Yaffe. Instead of pointing fingers, he says, they wondered, “What did I do to contribute to the polarization? … We felt ashamed. Now that the illusion of safety was shattered, the enmity and polarization seemed so stupid.”

Yaffe says when he returned from his first round of reserve duty, he discovered to his dismay that the old enmity had already returned to civil society and to public discourse. He called his commander and said he wanted to focus his energies on restoring Israel to its ideological roots. With his commander’s blessing, Yaffe started El HaDegel. The group has not yet officially registered as a party but plans to once a date is set for the next Knesset election.

Zionism—prioritizing the existence of the state of Israel over other values—is at the heart of El HaDegel’s discourse. The party’s policy focuses on security, the economy, education, and law. As a grassroots movement, El HaDegel holds meetings in small group settings—including one recent meeting at a Jerusalem pub.

Following the Oct. 7 invasion, Israelis across the board are no longer open to the possibility of a hostile neighboring Palestinian state. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, 70% of Israelis supported a Palestinian state in 2007. Today that support has flipped—polls this year show up to 81% now oppose establishing such a state.

Stronger views on Israeli sovereignty and security are also reflected in mainstream politics. In a July 2024 vote, the Knesset overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a future Palestinian state on Israel’s borders. In July 2025, lawmakers passed a symbolic, bipartisan vote to extend sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, regions of the West Bank. And in August, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the construction of 3,401 Israeli housing units in a key region between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. This creates a protective ring around Jerusalem and is intended to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state, cutting the West Bank into two halves.

Daniel Pomerantz, CEO of the research group RealityCheck, said that before Oct. 7 most Israelis believed that terrorism was caused by Palestinian hardship. “We believed that by giving them material wealth and kindness they could be won over to our point of view.”

Israelis’ views have since shifted, but it’s not to say they no longer have major political disagreements. The judicial reform controversy will need to be resolved, and Netanyahu still has many critics, some of whom oppose the ground invasion of Gaza City and demand a compromise deal with Hamas to bring home the hostages.

Another point of conflict involves mandatory military service for Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews. Although Israel’s Supreme Court last year ruled Haredim must serve in the military, the politically influential group is pushing hard to reinstate its traditional exemption. The controversy over Haredi draft evasion has the potential to topple the current coalition government.

El HaDegel proposes a new basic law stating that every Israeli citizen—Jew, Arab, secular, or ultra-Orthodox—must serve the state, either in the military or in civil service. The law guarantees a place for the religious lifestyle of every soldier and includes the preservation of Torah study as a fundamental Zionist value.

According to a recent Maariv poll, El HaDegel’s popularity is growing: If elections were held today, a party of its description would place third with 13 seats in Israel’s parliamentary system, where more than a dozen parties are currently represented in the Knesset.

Yaffe, a father of five sons, said the party aims to center the political conversation on existential topics, like the draft law, rather than around loyalty to a certain leader.

“We fought a real enemy, side by side as brothers,” Yaffe says. “Now, we must never again be enemies of each other.”