From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 17, 2026
People of Israel’s Yoseph Haddad says Likud offered him top 10 slot to join party
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Arab Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad, who is running for the Knesset with Ofer Winter’s right-wing People of Israel party, says Likud offered him a top 10 spot on its electoral slate and a ministerial position in a last-minute bid to recruit him.
“Right up until the eleventh hour… Likud offered me a place in the top 10 on its electoral slate and a promise to serve as a minister,” Haddad says at an event in Kfar Saba.
Haddad also criticizes Likud for attacking Winter’s party, insisting it will cross the electoral threshold, despite polls showing otherwise.
Rejecting suggestions that Winter could join forces with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, Haddad says his party would join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but only if it commits to military conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.
“We will not join any government that does not ensure military enlistment for everyone. We will fight for the rights of those who serve,” Haddad says.
More from today’s Liveblog:
The Times of Israel Community.