Center-right former minister Yoaz Hendel forms new ‘Reservists’ party

Former communications minister Yoaz Hendel announces the registration of a new political party he is calling HaMiluimnikim (“The Reservists”), which will run in the next Knesset election.

In a statement, the new party says it comprises “reservists, families of reservists, wounded IDF [soldiers], bereaved families and civilian volunteers.”

Hendel has not ruled out a partnership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, and the statement says the party “will deal with principles and not political boycotts.” Such boycotts, the statement says, were “among the factors that led us to October 7.”

But in a thinly veiled reference to the prime minister, the statement also says those responsible for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack “should go home and those who took responsibility that day, and since, should take control of the centers of power and lead the country.”

The new party’s platform calls for a “Zionist government,” “service for all” and the “establishment of a committee of inquiry” to investigate the October 7 attack, a step Netanyahu has resisted. “The reservists are coming to force the rehabilitation of the political system,” the party’s announcement continues.

Hendel, a battalion commander in the IDF reserves and critic of the current government who was previously affiliated with Likud, entered politics in 2019 as a member of Benny Gantz’s center-right Blue and White party. He bounced between a few factions in subsequent years, and served in the cabinet between 2020 and 2022.

After leaving politics, Hendel established a movement also called HaMiluimnikim, aimed at promoting universal military enlistment and harsh penalties for evasion.

According to a poll published this week by The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael, if elections were held today, HaMiluimnikim would receive six out of the Knesset’s 120 seats.