Shvot Raanan Drops Out of Meretz-like Reserve Soldiers Party Primary on Voting Day

A major political shake-up hit Yoaz Hendel’s Reserve Soldiers Party on Tuesday, the day of its first internal primary since the movement was founded. Attorney Shvot Raanan, Hendel’s senior partner in building the political framework and a prominent figure in the struggle led by military reserve families, unexpectedly announced she was withdrawing from the race.

In a detailed letter to party members, Raanan said she was acting “out of deep responsibility” to the public campaign and after trying to find the right path forward. She recalled that her public activism began when the war broke out, when she and other women created the “Forum of Reserve Soldiers’ Wives” and fought for economic and welfare support for families. She said the distress she saw among reservists, who were losing their footing at work and at home, exposed an injustice that was “morally, religiously, and also security-strategically” severe.

Raanan said she joined Hendel to offer a real alternative on the burden-sharing issue and the enlistment law, seeking a clear “right-wing, faith-based, female voice” that would defend the country. She said the goal was to move the system out of a “political mindset” that allows it to be pressured by non-Zionist forces, and to create a new, clean political home for the national-religious and right-wing public.

But she said the recent weeks of the primary campaign made her conclude that shifting from an authentic reservists’ struggle into a political framework was “less suitable” for that vision. Raanan thanked Hendel for his trust and support, praised the “amazing and important battalion” he built, and urged members to back Ron Peretz, along with Shalmy Damari and Sandra Alon. She said her public mission remains intact and that she will continue working for fair enlistment legislation and a broad Zionist government.