Former New Hope lawmaker Sharren Haskel’s newly founded party, Israel First, will likely not sit with Arab parties or the far-left Democrats Party after the Oct. 27 national election, she told JNS on Monday.
Haskel called for the creation of a broad Zionist government around which to unite the Israeli people. While she said she is not looking to boycott anyone, she stressed that the next government cannot rely on ultra-Orthodox parties and has to be Zionistic in essence. As such, it will likely not include Arab parties, or The Democrats led by Yair Golan due to his comments regarding IDF soldiers.
Last year, Golan claimed IDF soldiers fighting the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip “kill babies as a hobby.”
“These are not the values I know our army and the incredible people fighting on the front lines come from, and any attempt to tarnish them goes against the values we need in the next government. These are the lines that we draw,” Haskel said.
The Israel First party, she said, will be a right-wing movement that puts the Jewish nation above all.
“This is a call for everyone on the right side of the political map to join forces. There are dozens of people who want to enter politics—ideologically right-wing people who feel the need to come and serve the country. I call on all of them to join forces and become part of this platform,” she said.
Born in Toronto in 1984, Haskel immigrated to Israel with her family a year later. She enlisted in the Israel Border Police and served in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada.
Haskel entered the Knesset with Likud in 2015 and has served as a right-wing lawmaker for 11 years. She served on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and in 2017, she founded a Knesset caucus aimed at reforming the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Since then, she has campaigned internationally against the agency’s exploitation by terrorist organizations.
She recently resigned from her position as deputy foreign minister and left Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party before launching her new movement.
