Amcha Yisrael (Hebrew: עמך ישראל; “Your People, Israel,” also translated as “People of Israel”) is a right-wing Israeli political party founded by retired Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter. The party was formally launched in Jerusalem on August 25, 2026, ahead of the election for the 26th Knesset.
Winter established Amcha Yisrael after months of speculation about his political plans. Billboards placed along major Israeli highways before the launch featured the date August 25 and the message, “Soon you will have someone to vote for.” Their purple design alluded to the Givati Brigade’s color, which Winter commanded during Operation Protective Edge.
The party was unveiled at the Shalva Center in Jerusalem before approximately 300 supporters. Winter described the 2026 election as a referendum on whether Israel would retain the political and security doctrines that preceded the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack or adopt a new leadership and national strategy.
Winter presented Amcha Yisrael as a movement of political newcomers who had not participated in the failures surrounding October 7. He said its candidates had instead fought in the ensuing war, served lengthy periods in the reserves, lost relatives, or worked in communities affected by terrorism and organized crime. The party adopted “Less politics, more leadership” and “What was will not be” as central themes.
The name Amcha Yisrael was drawn from Jewish liturgical language and means “Your People, Israel.” Winter concluded the launch by reciting lines from the Hineni He’ani Mima’as prayer traditionally said by the cantor on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The prayer refers to the cantor standing before God on behalf of “Your people Israel, who have sent me.” The phrase also appeared in the message Winter sent to Givati commanders before entering combat in Gaza in 2014.
Leadership and Candidates
Winter serves as chairman of Amcha Yisrael. The second position on the initial slate was given to Yoseph Haddad, an Arab-Israeli Christian, wounded IDF veteran, and pro-Israel public-diplomacy activist. Haddad had previously arranged the registration of a separate party, Brave Israel, but joined Winter before the Amcha Yisrael launch.
Haddad said he entered politics to rebuild Israel’s public diplomacy apparatus and announced his ambition to become public diplomacy minister and the first Arab Israeli to serve in the country’s security cabinet. He endorsed Winter as a future defense minister.
Other members of the founding group included:
- Netali Shem-Tov, a journalist and former television news anchor whose family was evacuated from Metula during the war.
- Lali Deri, whose son, IDF reservist Staff Sgt. Saadia Yaakov Deri, was killed in combat in Gaza.
- Sigal Kroanik-Atiya, the widow of Kibbutz Be’eri security coordinator Arik Kroanik, who was killed defending the community on October 7.
- Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, an attorney, public diplomacy activist, and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem.
- Davidi Ben Zion, a reserve officer and deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council.
- Col. (res.) Eli Gino, a former commander of the Givati reconnaissance unit.
- Eran Ben-Ari, an attorney and former employee of the Defense Ministry and State Attorney’s Office.
- Ronen Bodnero, an economist who previously worked in the Finance Ministry.
- Aviv Ezra, a reservist and founder of the Generation of Victory movement.
Winter said the candidates represented religious and secular Israelis, Jews and Arabs, urban and rural communities, and residents of Israel’s northern, southern, and central regions. He described Judaism as a family rather than a political battlefield and said the party would promote Jewish tradition “not through coercion, but through love.”
Political Positions
Amcha Yisrael explicitly identified itself with Israel’s right-wing camp and pledged to work toward the formation of the broadest possible right-wing government with Zionist partners. Winter rejected suggestions that the party belonged to a centrist “third bloc” and said it would seek to bring voters disappointed with existing coalition parties back into the national camp.
National security was the principal issue emphasized at the party’s launch. Winter called for replacing what he described as a strategy of reaction, containment, and repeated rounds of fighting with one based on initiative, deception, decisive action, and victory. He said Israel should remove threats before they developed, deny defeated enemies the ability to rebuild, and impose territorial consequences on any enemy that initiated a war.
The party opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state. Winter declared that “there will never be a Palestinian state here” and said emigration from the Gaza Strip was the only solution for the territory. Before launching the party, he had argued that Israel could not achieve a decisive victory in Gaza without the large-scale emigration of its Palestinian population.
Amcha Yisrael also called for expanding the enlistment and integration of ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF while respecting the importance of Torah study. It advocated greater integration of Arab citizens who support the State of Israel, with Haddad’s prominent placement intended to demonstrate the party’s proposed Jewish-Arab civic partnership.
Other priorities announced at the launch included significant changes to the judicial system, combating organized crime and protection rackets in the Negev and Galilee, strengthening Israeli public diplomacy, and confronting anti-Semitism abroad. The party had not yet published a detailed economic or social platform at the time of its launch.
Electoral Prospects
Amcha Yisrael entered an increasingly crowded right-wing field before the 2026 election. Its potential to draw voters from the Likud, Religious Zionism, and Otzma Yehudit parties prompted concern among leaders of the existing governing bloc.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned voters against supporting small right-wing parties that might fail to clear Israel’s 3.25% electoral threshold. At the same time, Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich called for right-wing factions to consolidate. Winter rejected offers to join an existing party and argued that Amcha Yisrael would attract disappointed voters who otherwise might not support the right-wing bloc.
Polling immediately before the party’s launch produced mixed results. One survey gave a Winter-led party 2.5% of the vote, below the electoral threshold, but projected five Knesset seats after respondents were informed that Haddad, Deri, and Shem-Tov had joined. Another survey projected the party would win the minimum four seats required to enter the Knesset, although potentially at the expense of Religious Zionism. Consequently, Amcha Yisrael’s prospects for parliamentary representation remained uncertain at the time of its establishment.
Sources: Anna Barsky, “Likud Officials Push Netanyahu to Reserve Spot for Yoseph Haddad Amid Ofer Winter Party Concerns,” Jerusalem Post, (August 18, 2026).
Michael Bachner and Times of Israel staff, “Entering Politics, Ex-IDF General Blasts Three Years of War Without a ‘Decisive Result,’” Times of Israel, (August 20, 2026).
“Poll Shows Winter’s New Party Has Potential to Enter Knesset, Sink Smotrich’s Party,” Times of Israel, (August 23, 2026).
Moran Azulay, Amir Ettinger, “The Fear of a ‘1992 Trap’ and Winter’s Refusal to Join an Existing Party,” Ynet, (August 25, 2026).
Amir Ettinger, “Winter Unveils Election Slate: ‘We Want a Broad Right-Wing Government; the Solution in Gaza Is Emigration,’” Ynet, (August 25, 2026).
Sam Sokol, “Ofer Winter Launches Right-Wing ‘People of Israel’ Party, Pledges to Push Gaza Emigration and Expand IDF Draft,” Times of Israel, (August 25, 2026).
Shir Perets, “Religious Ex-IDF General Ofer Winter Touts New ‘Amcha Yisrael’ Party, Taps Activist Yoseph Haddad,” Jerusalem Post, (August 25, 2026).