A national vote is set to take place in Israel on 27 October. HaDemokratim — running under the banner of The Democrats — is one of the parties entered in the ballot, positioning itself as a vehicle for renewing left-wing Zionist political representation.
The Democrats took shape in June 2024 through a union of two left-leaning political forces: the Labour Party, headed by Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff in the Israeli military, and Meretz, a party positioned at the leftward end of the country's mainstream political spectrum. Consolidating the electoral base of the left was the driving objective, given that both parties were drawing support from the same pool of voters. Golan took the helm of the newly formed party.
Proponents contend that what the movement's title signals goes beyond a simple transfer of power, encompassing a broader push to rebuild civic institutions, renew bonds of social cohesion, and establish a governing vision distinct from the coalition currently led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the point of the Knesset's dissolution in July, four sitting members held seats under the Democrats banner, each of them having entered parliament on a Labour ticket before the two parties merged. In the November 2022 election, Meretz fell short of the 3.25 per cent vote share needed to secure Knesset representation, leaving it without any seats in parliament.
According to their own platform, the Democrats position themselves as a party rooted in Zionist principles alongside liberal-democratic and social-democratic values. Its voter base draws from those who hold non-religious outlooks, favour progressive social values, and have historically supported parties positioned toward the left of centre.
Among its stated positions are the maintenance of a Jewish character alongside democratic governance in Israel, the reinforcement of institutional checks and balances, protections for individual rights and freedoms, the separation of religion from state affairs, and a negotiated arrangement between two separate states as a path forward for Palestinians.
The party has put forward a position that any workable governance arrangement should centre on voter accountability, reliable day-to-day administration, and a concrete path toward ending rather than prolonging the conflict. Its platform calls for replacing Netanyahu while also pursuing a shift in the country's approach to Palestinian affairs, the relationship between religion and the state, social welfare provision, and the structure of the judiciary — a broader agenda than that put forward by several centrist opposition parties.
With only a modest share of seats in the legislature, the Democrats would require coalition partners to have any realistic path to leading the next government. A possible role for the party involves joining a centrist coalition government opposed to Netanyahu, with B'Yachad under Naftali Bennett or Yashar under Gadi Eisenkot at the helm.
The question of Palestinian statehood stands as an unresolved point of contention in the broader negotiations. Party platform documents show that the Democrats back a negotiated path toward two separate states while taking a firm stand against any lasting Israeli hold over, or formal absorption of, the West Bank. Yashar has stated that the question of Palestinian statehood is not among the items it intends to place on the agenda. The two leaders of B'Yachad hold opposing views on the matter — Bennett has ruled it out, while Yair Lapid has left the door open to the possibility.
The party presents itself as offering voters a distinct policy platform rather than running a campaign built primarily around opposition to Netanyahu. Ballot-box performance stands out as the area where its reach has historically been narrowest. One party today holds the primary torch of the political movement that built and guided Israel, even as that movement's presence has narrowed considerably over time.
Having served as a major general and later as deputy chief of staff within the Israel Defense Forces, Golan — now 64 years old — has since stepped away from both positions. On 7 October, he drew attention for taking part in efforts to bring survivors out of the area surrounding the Nova music festival attack. His record of publicly challenging the government led by Netanyahu spans three areas: the circumstances around the 7 October attacks, the conduct of the war in Gaza, and what he has described as the erosion of institutional checks on power.
During a 2016 address, he drew a comparison between patterns he observed within Israeli society and those that had taken hold in Europe ahead of the Holocaust. On a 2025 radio programme, Golan attracted public controversy after contending that any nation exercising sound governance would neither wage war on civilians, treat the killing of children as a permissible outcome, nor pursue the forced displacement of an entire population as state policy — a position that sits alongside his stated aim of rebuilding the Israeli left from its foundations rather than shifting it toward the political centre.
His military service concluded, he moved into electoral politics by winning a Knesset seat on the Meretz party list. A Labour Party leadership contest in May 2024 delivered him a victory, after which he steered the party into a coalition arrangement with Meretz, bringing The Democrats into existence.
Party leaders expressed backing for a well-resourced Israeli military and Tel Aviv's right to respond to threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, while arguing that armed operations need to be anchored in a broader political framework. Those pressing for action argue that the military campaign in Gaza requires a clear post-conflict plan — without one, they say, it cannot be maintained over time.
The Democrats have expressed backing for a negotiated two-state arrangement, a stance that puts them at a distance from the positions held by B'Yachad and Likud, with party members contending that ongoing settlement activity in occupied territories puts both the country's governance structures and its longer-term security at risk.
A proposal backed by Democratic lawmakers would extend mandatory participation in military or national service to all citizens. Critics contend that draft exemptions granted to Haredi men place a disproportionate burden on other Israelis — both secular and religious-nationalist — who fulfil mandatory military obligations. One plank of the party's platform calls for reducing or ending state benefits directed at Haredi men who have not completed their military service.
Strengthening democratic institutions ranks among the stated policy goals the party has put forward. The platform puts two demands on the table: that senior political and security figures be held to account, and that an independent government-established commission investigate the circumstances surrounding 7 October. The group's stated positions favour a judiciary operating free from political interference, an executive branch held to account, and governance guided by defined constitutional frameworks — placing it at odds with the judicial restructuring agenda advanced by the Netanyahu-led coalition. A written constitution is also among the policy positions backed by the party.
On church-state matters, the party's platform has generally aligned with secular principles and a liberal policy orientation. The group draws a distinction between faith as a personal matter and the institutional imposition of religious practice on others. The platform backs civil marriage rights for all couples, same-sex unions included, alongside full legal parity for LGBTQ individuals and households.
The proposal envisions a shared national curriculum framework — one that would bring Hebrew, Arabic, and English instruction into every school, whether Jewish, Arab, religious, or secular.
On economic policy, the party draws comparisons to Britain's Labour Party. Its orientation sits within a framework of working to change existing systems from within, rather than seeking to dismantle the foundations of market-based economics altogether. Party officials have stated that eliminating privately owned businesses is not part of their platform. Among their stated priorities are fairer competition in the marketplace, stronger regulatory frameworks governing economic activity, and a narrowing of the income and opportunity divide separating Israel's more prosperous urban core from its less affluent outlying regions.
