PM shares plea from families of fallen soldiers for Winter to withdraw from election; bereaved mother on slate pushes back

By Stav Levaton

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Today, 3:18 pm

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

Ofer Winter (left) at the launch of his People of Israel party, in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to vote at the Likud primary in Jerusalem on August 17, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shares an open letter from bereaved families of soldiers killed in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and the ensuing war, calling on People of Israel party chairman Ofer Winter to withdraw from next week’s election.

“These elections are fateful, fateful for the settlement movement, the judicial system and security,” the families write. “In these elections, every vote is important.”

“Ofer, you are not polling above the electoral threshold in any survey,” they say. “We, the bereaved families, call on you, Ofer: Do not endanger Israel’s security.”

Sharing the letter on X, Netanyahu echoes the call for Winter to withdraw, writing: “Ofer Winter, listen to the bereaved families – show responsibility and step down for the sake of the right’s victory!”

But Laly Derai, a candidate on Winter’s People of Israel slate and the mother of fallen IDF soldier Staff Sgt. Saadia Derai, pushes back, stressing that bereaved families do not all share the same views.

“We are not all the same, we do not all think the same way, and therefore speaking on behalf of the bereaved families is something I would not do,” she writes in response to Netanyahu.

Derai says she respects every family that signed the letter, adding that doing so is “entirely their right” and that they have “earned” that right.

Turning to Netanyahu’s call for a right-wing victory, she adds, “After losing my son Saadia, may God avenge his blood, I am here so that there will truly be a victory,” calling for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza, the integration of ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF and an end to Israel’s internal divisions.

“For this I am here, and I’m not going anywhere,” she says.

Netanyahu has intensified his efforts to pressure Winter to withdraw from the election race in recent days, meeting yesterday with the party leader’s rabbi alongside Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a bid to persuade Winter to drop out.