Alternative for Yisrael

Alternative for Yisrael אלטרנטיבה לישראל
name	Modern Hebrew
Leader	Reuven Goldschmidt
Founder	Reuven Goldschmidt
Founded	November 7, 2019 (2019-11-07)
Split from	Constitutional Liberal Party
Headquarters	Modiin, Yisrael
Ideology	Centrism Populism Middle-income interests Traditional-interests Internal Factions: Classical liberalism Ordoliberalism Economic liberalism Radical centrism
Political position	Center-to-Center-Left
Religion	Traditional-sector of Orthodox Judaism
International affiliation	Belisarian Community Parliament - the Alliance of Centrists
Colors	Light blue
Seats in the Royal Knesset	10 / 142

Alternative for Yisrael, also commonly called by its acronym AfY (colloquially), is a contemporary centrist, middle-income family interests, and Traditional-sector interests secondary political party in Yisrael.

The AfY splintered from the chief opposition party the Constitutional Liberals in advance of the 2020 general election due to what its founder ascribed as illegal widespread secularist thought among the Con-Lib ranks. The party at its founding took about a quarter (10 seats) of the Con-Libs' caucus of sitting Members of Knesset. Its political base is thought to compete with the similarly center-right/middle-income-interests Action Yisrael party, which has found great electoral success in the suburban areas outside major metropolitan cities throughout the country.

The AfY is the leading party heading the United Center Bloc in the 2020 general election.

Platform and philosophy

While the party outlined a few broadly and vaguely centrist principles upon its launch, its platform did not have substantive depth until after the formation of the United Center Bloc with the Action Yisrael.

On November 24, 2019, the AfY released a political manifesto and legislative agenda if given the reins of power, or if it gained enough power to influence the majority:

• Party of Moderates and Centrists: the AfY pledged that it would represent the political interests of the political center in Yisrael, and rejected extremism and radicalism.

• Religious Status Quo Maintained: The party advocated for a status quo in Chiloni-Dati divide, rejecting the Con-Libs' efforts to pare back or relax religious law enforcement as well as the Conservatives' policy and funding initiatives to expand such enforcement, citing the foreign-policy scandal known as the Midnight Affair as a result of overzealous prosecution.

• Resolute Foreign Policy: Detailing more of the party's national-liberal center of gravity, the AfY argued for a forceful diplomatic and national security posture that protected Yisraeli interests and citizens near and far and supported a more aggressive counter-terrorism policy.

• New Transportation Funding and Capital Projects: One of the party's leading public policies, the AfY advocated for expanding the existing Royal Government's transportation budget by $5.6 billion shekels over ten years, lowering most tolls and the royal gas tax, as well as abolishing the experimental congestion pricing enacted by the Royal Government in Yerushalayim, Dervaylik, and Ashkelon in 2010.

• New or Expanded Family Tax and Benefit Programs: The AfY advocated a new set of family tax reduction and subsidy programs, estimated to cost $3.4 billion shekels over ten years by independent economists. To offset some of this cost, it has argued to cut the kollel subsidies to (the mostly Chareidi) Torah learners between 33.3–59.5%, sparking fierce push back by the Torah Achdus party of the Right Bloc.

History

Founding

The party was founded by Reuven Goldschmidt on November 7, 2019, about two months before the 2020 general election.

Goldschmidt told the Royal Yerushalayim Dispatch at a press conference that, "I did not leave the Constitutional Liberal Party - it left me. Every year, it seems to embrace more and more foreign ideas that have no place in Yisrael. I have personally observed numerous party leaders, including Members of Knesset, alluding to being secret secularists. My former party no longer represents who I am. I believe the government can have a positive, active role in making our lives better, but we must remember that all we have comes from Hashem [G-d]. I will no longer stay party to a faction that quietly rejects the foundation of our very country."

He was joined by nine other sitting MKs who left the Con-Lib caucus. On November 11, 2019, the AfY registered its new party caucus with the Secretary of the Royal Knesset. On November 14, the AfK announced a large slate of Knesset candidates to compete in targeted Knesset districts.

2020 elections

Presidential election

The same day he announced his new party, Goldschmidt also launched a presidential campaign for the upcoming January 27, 2020 election, facing Conservative Party nominee (and current Foreign Minister) Yitzchok Katz and Constitutional Liberal Party nominee (and sitting Member of Knesset) Yosef Kaduri.

Several early polls out after his launch had Goldschmidt between 22–29% of the vote, with Katz at 28–43% and Kaduri at 24–35% (some of the polls had large undecided respondent rates that reduces their reliability).

On November 17, 2019, the Action Yisrael national committee announced it was leaving the Conservative-led Blue-Gray-Maroon coalition (2018-19) (the 48th Knesset had already concluded its last session before the 2020 election) and that it was cross-endorsing the AfY rather than its former coalition partner the Conservatives for the presidential election, as well as announcing an "United Center" political bloc with the AfY in the new 49th session of the Knesset, pledging to not compete against each other's candidates and to cooperate when the next Knesset is seated.

Knesset elections

Several early polls showed the AfY maintaining its current seats and adding between 3-10 additional seats, mostly at the expense of the Con-Libs, Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers, and to a lesser degree, the Conservatives.

Election results and current representation

Current representation

The AfY currently have 10 MKs in the Royal Knesset. It is in the minority.

International affiliation and criticism

The party has is affiliated with the Belisarian Community's Parliament bloc the Alliance of Centrists as well as the Democratic Alternative party in Sydalon.