Summary5 min read

Call Me Back – with Dan Senor

Sneak Peek: Nadav Eyal on Israel's Draft Controversy, Party Loyalty, Vigilantes, and More...

Date: July 18, 2026
Host: Dan Senor
Guest: Nadav Eyal
Purpose: Exploring the latest political developments in Israel, focusing on new political parties, election dynamics, and ideology shifts.

Episode Overview

This episode offers an in-depth look at the evolving landscape of Israeli politics in the run-up to the October 2027 elections. Host Dan Senor and ARC Media contributor Nadav Eyal discuss the recent formation of a new right-wing political party by Hilly Trooper and Yoaz Hendel, examining who they are, what their entrance means, and how their views fit into current debates around party loyalty, policy, and Israel's future. The conversation sheds light on generational shifts, the complexity of coalition politics, and the pragmatics of policy stances, especially concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Israeli Political Newcomers: Hilly Trooper and Yoaz Hendel

[02:43–04:46]

Background: Trooper and Hendel are younger politicians from Israel’s "religious Zionism" camp, which Nadav explains aligns with what would be called Modern Orthodox in the U.S. Both have extensive military and public service experience.
Political Roots:
- Hendel formerly worked with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom ties ended acrimoniously.
- Trooper is described as “one of the most popular politicians in Israel,” focusing much of his time on supporting war-injured citizens and bereaved families.
Significance: Seen as representing the interests and values of reserve soldiers—a relevant demographic in the current Israeli climate.
Coalitions: Although rooted in the right and religious Zionism, they are considered more liberal compared to traditional right-wingers; Nadav clarifies, “I don’t mean like lefties, not in the way that it’s used in the US political sphere.” ([02:43])

2. The Israeli Electoral Threshold and Party Viability

[04:29–05:33]

Polling Dynamics: Initially, the new party struggled to clear the electoral threshold for entering the Knesset (3% of votes, roughly equivalent to four seats), but recent polling suggests they now surpass it.
Strategic Importance: Nadav notes, “If you don’t get four seats in the Knesset, you don’t get three, you don’t get anything. And that’s the test for new parties.” ([04:46])
Electoral Math: Many Israelis are wary of “wasting” votes on marginal parties that might not gain any seats, making this threshold pivotal.

3. Why Don’t New Party Leaders Merge with Other Blocs?

[06:03–07:51]

Dan’s question: If Trooper and Hendel are likely to join the ‘Change Bloc’ (opposition to Netanyahu’s bloc), why don’t they just merge with established centrist parties?
Nadav’s answer:
- It’s a “great American question” that doesn’t fit Israeli political culture.
- Political leverage: Running independently establishes their worth—making them more desirable coalition partners and giving them negotiation power.
- Vote harvesting: By presenting themselves as independent and more right-leaning, they attract voters who wouldn’t otherwise support strictly centrist parties, actually benefiting coalition efforts.

4. Policy Stances: The New “Right” and the Two-State Solution

[07:51–10:01]

On Palestinian statehood: Both Trooper and Hendel “absolutely rule out the possibility of the formation of a Palestinian state in the near future or at all,” even before October 7, 2023 ([08:17]).
Security Motivation: Their opposition is not strictly ideological, but security-focused. Nadav distinguishes between Israelis opposed to a Palestinian state for religious reasons (“the whole land of Israel”) vs. those, like Trooper and Hendel, whose motivations are pragmatic and security-based.
- Quote: “The motivation of the Israeli right wing for many years was a security argumentation… If you could explain that it’s good for security, we might reconsider.” ([08:47])
Contrast with ultra-right: Trooper and Hendel, while right-wing, are not hardliners like Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben Gvir. They're open to compromise for security, albeit currently skeptical.
Broader Divide: Nadav points out this lens—security vs. religious motivation—applies across the political spectrum and is key to understanding Israeli left’s hawkishness at times (e.g., fighting wars, or making peace when security allows).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“I’m always amused that my Israeli friends come to New York City to relax... New York City, which most Americans think is the most intense, stressful city in America, but for Israelis it’s like wind down.”
— Dan Senor ([01:23])

“If you don’t get four seats in the Knesset, you don’t get three, you don’t get anything. And that’s the test for new parties.”
— Nadav Eyal ([04:46])

“This is such a great American question … but it has nothing to do with Israeli politics or the Mediterranean or the Middle East or how it works in Israel.”
— Nadav Eyal, addressing party strategy ([06:25])

“They absolutely rule out the possibility of formation of Palestinian state in the near future or at all… Both of them, security-orientated.”
— Nadav Eyal on Trooper and Hendel ([08:17])

“If now security demands that there would be an agreement with Egypt, we’re willing to compromise on the entire Sinai Peninsula, as Menachem Begin did…”
— Nadav Eyal ([09:38])

Timestamps for Key Segments

[02:43] – Introduction to Trooper and Hendel, their backgrounds, and the media attention.
[04:29] – Explanation of Israel’s electoral threshold and new party polling.
[06:03] – Dan challenges: Why not merge with other Change Bloc parties?
[07:51] – Discussion of Trooper and Hendel’s policy positions re: Palestinian statehood.
[08:47] – Deeper analysis of security vs. religious motivations in Israeli politics.

Tone & Final Thoughts

The tone of the episode is conversational yet charged with the urgency and complexity emblematic of Israeli politics. Dan and Nadav balance humor (“sleepy week in Israel”) with deep, candid analysis of current events, always centering the real-world implications for Israelis and Jews worldwide. The episode acts as both a crash-course in the mechanics of Israeli elections and a nuanced exploration of what drives its political actors.

For more content and full episodes, listeners are encouraged to join Inside Call Me Back via ARC Media.

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Transcript17 lines

[00:00]
A
Over the past couple of years, Call Me Back has grown into something much bigger than we ever expected. A place for clarity, context and honest conversations at a time when those things can seem hard to find. That's what ARC Media is all about. Building a truly independent voice, which means no one shaping what we say or how we say it. To help support our rapidly expanding operations, we created Inside Call Me Back our members only feed. If Call Me Back has been meaningful to you and you want to be part of what we're building, I hope you'll join us. You can subscribe@arc media.org or through the link in the show Notes and to our insiders. Thank you. You are listening to an arc media podcast. Welcome to Inside Call Me Back, our members only edition where we open the door and let you shape conversation. Today in the hot seat, addressing your questions and personal dilemmas is ARC Media contributor Nadavael Nadav. Welcome back to the Inside.
[01:13]
B
Thank you for having me again.
[01:14]
A
Dan Nadav. It's been kind of a sleepy week or two in Israel. Like there's not much for us to talk about. It's been not much going on, huh?
[01:22]
B
Yeah. As usual in Israel.
[01:24]
A
Right? As usual. Right. I often say my I'm always amused that my Israeli friends come to New York City to relax. I'm always like guys, yeah, this is vacation for you. New York City, which most Americans think is the most intense, stressful city in America, but for Israelis it's like wind down.
[01:41]
B
What you just said as an Israeli, it never occurred to me that it's an intensive place. I don't want to visit in my vacation. Right, Right.
[01:49]
A
Ask anyone from any other part of America. They may come want to visit New York City because it's an interesting place or there's a lot of cultural things to do or but it's not. But they don't see it as like downtime. They don't see it as like a place to unwind and take a break from the stress. Anyways, it's going to somewhere kind of tranquil. Okay. We have a lot of questions from our community so I'm just going to jump right into them. The first one is Maggie from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maggie asks Last week a new right wing party in Israel was formed by Hilly Trooper and Yoz Hendel. Who are they and how does it change the political dynamics, if at all? So we are in this season of a elections have been called so Israeli elections will take place in Octo 27th and now is usually the time in an Israeli election season where if there are new upstart parties that are going to start appearing, and one of them in particular, this one I just, that Maggie just cited, is getting a lot of attention. Why?
[02:43]
B
Because Hilly Trooper and Yoaz Hendel are two younger generation politicians in Israel. Both of them come from religious Zionism, what we call religious Zionism, what could be translated in American Jewish community spheres into modern Orthodox. They grew up with the right wing religious Zionism, but now they're considered quite liberal. I use this expression, I don't mean like lefties, not in the way that it's used in the US political sphere. Joaz Handel served hundreds of days in a reserve service. He's a previous minister. He used to work with Benjamin Netanyahu and this ended very badly. And Gillet, Rupert really is one of the most consensual, one of the most popular politicians in Israel. In every kind of poll, he gets really very significant numbers. He has devoted much of his time to helping people who've been injured during the war and traveling between bereaved families as a result of the war. Both of them served in combat units. They are the type of the relatively new generation of Israelis. They're younger than Naftuli Bennett, who's young himself. And they seem to be the people who might represent the reserve soldiers. And this initially came from a reservist soldiers party that was formed by Joaz Hendel and Khelid Ruppil, that used to be a minister, together with Benny Gantz. He came from Benny Gantz Party, also a centrist party has joined him. And this is getting some media now. They didn't pass the threshold in initial polls. Now they're passing the thresholds, meaning they're
[04:30]
A
polling high enough that if those poll numbers are reflective of what the actual votes they get on election day, they were at least before polling lower than meeting the minimum threshold to actually get any seats in the Knesset. And you're saying now they've, they've actually, in the polling, they've moved past that threshold.
[04:47]
B
Yeah, just one sentence about that. In a relative electoral system, unlike the one in the us, you need to have some sort of a bench mark. When do you allow people to enter your parliament? In Israel, it's about 3%. If you don't pass that, these votes just go down the drain. So you need to have at least 3% of the entire electorate that actually voted. If you don't get that, you're not going to get into the Knesset. And that means, in practicality, Dan, four seats in the Knesset, if you don't get four seats in the Knesset,' you don't get three, you don't get anything. And that's the test for new parties. They need to poll over four seats. If they don't poll over four seats, people are going to say, I'm not going to waste my vote with these people.
[05:33]
A
Right.
[05:33]
B
And I just explained a really important dynamic of Israeli politics right now. They started polling over four seats or four seats and above, and they are seen to some degree as people who might go with Qadi Eisenhut. So on this spectrum of new right wing centrist parties, Gilly Trooper and Yoaz Handel are a party that is almost determined to go with what we labeled the Change bloc, not the Netanyahu bloc, although they define themselves as center right wingers.
[06:03]
A
Okay, two quick questions before we move on from Maggie's question 1. Why wouldn't they, if there is this question about whether or not they'll meet the threshold, and if it's understood that they'll serve as part of the Change bloc anyways, why wouldn't they just fold immediately into another one of the change block parties like Eisencot or Lieberman or Naftali Bennett? Why are they standing independently?
[06:26]
B
This is such a great American question, and I mean this as a compliment, because it's common sense, it's straightforward, it's based on reality. It has nothing to do with Israeli politics or the Mediterranean or the Middle east or how it works in Israel. So the truth of the matter is that they won't fold because they believe that they can take some votes who are not going to vote for the Eisenhower Party at this, at this point in time. So they think that folding into the Eisencot party, first of all, they don't know what seat they're going to get from Eisencot. So Eisencot is going to make that decision and their power increases if they are independently worth something. And the only way that you know what you're worth in Israeli politics is if you form a party, then Eisenkot and other people will come to you and court you and try to persuade you to join their own party and give you the right seats and the right promises. But it's more than that. It's what I opened with Khalid Ruppel, and you asked specifically, are pitching to a different electorate than Eisenkot, which is more right wing, so they can bring other votes. It's actually working to Eisenhower's favor that they're running independently because they might be taking voters that otherwise are not going to vote for Eisencot and Nadav.
[07:51]
A
Again, I could talk about this stuff all day long. But I'll restrain myself with just one more question. What are their actual positions on policy issues? Just let's take an issue the last two episodes of Call Me Back with Tal Becker and Rahm Emanuel. There's a lot of conversation about a future Palestinian state, a two state solution. Is that in the cards, is it not? So where would Trooper and Hendel stand on that issue? What does it mean that they're religious Zionist? What does it mean that they're considered, quote unquote, new right?
[08:18]
B
They absolutely rule out the possibility of formation of Palestinian state in the near future or at all? Both of them. So if you ask them in terms of security official, in terms of what happened after October 7th, but even if you would speak with them before October 7th, these people opposed Palestinian statehood. Now will they be able to make a compromise? Knowing them personally, they might. So they are not Bezaled, Smotrich or Bemgvir. They're mostly security orientated. And you know what then this is actually an important question and it's an important divide in Israeli politics. You have right wing and you have center left or left wing, but you have the motivations and there are distinct, different motivations. The motivation of the Israeli right wing for many years was a security argumentation against, for instance, Palestinian statehood. In other words, it was very pragmatic. If you could explain that it's good for security, we might reconsider. But if it's a religious issue, if it's about Eretz Yisrael, the whole land of Israel, we're not going to consider this. And I would say that generally in Israeli politics, also on the left side, it really is that the dividing line is between people who think that security is paramount and it's all about security. So if now security dictates there will be no Palestine state, oh, there's going to be a war. And the Israeli center left has fought more wars than the Israeli right wing. We're going to fight the war and we're going to reject peace. But if now security demands that there would be an agreement with Egypt, we're willing to compromise on the entire Sinai Peninsula. As Menachem Begin.
[10:02]
A
That's it for our sneak peek today. If you want to catch the full episode, please subscribe to Inside. Call me back by following the link in the description or by going to ark media.org that's arkmedia.org your support is what allows us to do what we do here at Arc Media. I hope to see you there.