JERUSALEM (VINnews) — With hours remaining before Israel’s political parties are due to finalize their Knesset lists, pressure is mounting on Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter to unite his new right-wing party with other parties in the national camp or withdraw from the race altogether.
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A group of bereaved families and relatives of terror victims has issued a dramatic public appeal to Winter, chairman of the Amcha Yisrael (“Your People Israel”) party, warning that his independent candidacy could split the right-wing vote and cause votes to fall below Israel’s electoral threshold.
The families are demanding that Winter form a technical bloc with one or more right-wing parties, allowing the parties to run together for the purpose of crossing the electoral threshold while retaining the option of splitting into separate factions after the election. They also called on him to withdraw his candidacy if such an agreement cannot be reached.
The appeal invokes the 1992 elections, when several right-wing and religious parties lost votes that failed to translate into Knesset seats. The families argue that the resulting division helped the left-wing bloc win power and ultimately led to the Oslo Accords.
“We are writing to you from a place from which there is no return, the families whose loved ones were murdered in the waves of terror that followed Oslo,” the families wrote.
“We are not speaking theoretically, and we are not engaging in politics. We carry the price in our bodies, every morning anew, for years.”
The families described the Oslo process not merely as a diplomatic initiative but as what they regard as a national catastrophe, arguing that it was followed by years of terror attacks in which Israelis were killed and wounded. “Oslo became the tragedy of thousands of families who lost a son, daughter, father or mother,” they wrote, citing attacks on buses and streets as well as shootings, bombings and other forms of terrorism. They also pointed to victims allegedly killed by members of the Palestinian security forces established under the Oslo agreements.
The families said the lesson of 1992 was straightforward: political fragmentation can have consequences far beyond the number of seats won by any individual party.
“That disaster was born from one simple thing: division,” they wrote. “In 1992, the national camp split, votes fell below the electoral threshold, the left came to power by a narrow margin and brought Oslo, and now you are about to do it again.”
“Do not play Russian roulette with the lives of our country. You have no moral or other right to gamble with the lives of millions of Jews simply to test your political strength.”
The families urged Winter to prove his political abilities without putting the broader right-wing camp at risk. “If you believe you have what it takes to make a difference, there is one straightforward way: establish a technical bloc with another party or parties on the right,” they wrote. “After the election, the factions can split if necessary, and then you can demonstrate what you know how to do.”
They warned Winter that if his party failed to cross the threshold, he would not be able to claim afterward that he had not been warned. “A Palestinian state established in the heart of the Land of Israel, along the fault line you created, will be recorded in your name—your name alone,” they wrote.
“Please withdraw your hand from this adventure while there is still time. Do not drag the State of Israel into the abyss out of ‘good intentions.’ Do not add even one more name to the enormous list of bereaved families.”
Winter, a former commander of the IDF’s Givati Brigade who retired from the military with the rank of brigadier general, launched Amcha Yisrael in August as a new right-wing political movement. The party describes itself as a national movement seeking a broad right-wing government.
The party has attracted a varied slate of candidates, including Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad, journalist Netaeli Shem Tov and figures associated with the communities surrounding Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
Winter has positioned himself firmly within the right-wing camp and has said that, should his party enter the Knesset, he would recommend Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister. The problem for the established right-wing parties is that Amcha Yisrael is a new party and therefore faces uncertainty over whether it can clear the electoral threshold.
Under Israeli law, a party must receive at least 3.25% of the valid vote to win Knesset representation. Votes cast for parties that fail to reach that threshold do not participate in the distribution of Knesset seats.
That is why small-party campaigns can become strategically important. A party polling at, for example, 2% or 3% may not win a single seat, while those votes could otherwise have contributed to the overall strength of the political bloc.
What is a technical bloc?
A technical bloc is an arrangement in which two or more parties agree to run together for the election even though they remain politically distinct.
The arrangement is designed primarily to prevent votes from being wasted below the electoral threshold. After the election, the parties can potentially operate as separate factions.
The issue has become particularly pressing after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party formally approved a technical alliance with Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party on Sunday, while authorizing Smotrich to pursue additional alliances within the national camp. Smotrich immediately called on Winter to join as well, warning against the loss of right-wing votes.
Winter, however, has so far resisted joining Smotrich and Feiglin. Earlier this month he said that he was not planning to join an existing party alliance or secure a place on the Likud list, although he left open the possibility of partnerships with other new political movements.
The dispute has therefore become more than a question of political personalities. For the right, it is a question of electoral mathematics: whether several parties competing for the same voters can each win enough support to enter the Knesset, or whether fragmentation could leave thousands of votes without parliamentary representation.
The families’ letter seeks to frame that calculation in starkly personal terms, warning Winter that, in their view, the consequences of another divided right could extend far beyond the fate of a single political party.
Given the voting system Winter is obliged to have an electoral pact with other parties on the right. A repeat of 92 would be a crime.
Still, it’s better to have a system whereby below threshold parties are allowed to transfer their votes to larger parties according to their pre-declared preference list.