Every Israeli election brings them back: the tiny parties with little expectation of entering parliament but every intention of making their appearance at the Central Elections Committee memorable. They were back Monday as candidate slates were formally submitted for the upcoming Knesset election, alongside the larger parties fighting to cross the electoral threshold and, in some cases, lead the next government.
This year’s breakout character was “Sharshar,” the stage name of Eitan Shvili, who arrived at the Knesset wearing a blue cape and crown to submit the slate of his party, “Sharshar for Love and Unity of the People.”
The party requested the Hebrew ballot letters “Tzedek” (צדק), meaning “justice.” Even Central Elections Committee chairman Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg joined in, asking him: “Where is the queen?” Shvili said his slate included 12 candidates and described his mission as giving a voice to hundreds of thousands of Israelis suffering from post-traumatic stress and combat trauma. “I go everywhere and donate to soldiers. I want to unite the people. I will be Israel’s next prime minister,” he said.
The “queen,” he explained, is Tami, a travel agent who holds the No. 2 spot on the slate. “With God’s help, I’ll make sure she gets a position,” he promised. Shvili said Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana had already assured him he could walk through parliament wearing his cape and crown. “It’s a unique treatment method for post-trauma,” he said. Speaking to ynet later, this time without the cape but holding a large number of U.S. dollar bills, he added: “Netanyahu will be foreign minister in my government. The people are hungry for money, and I’m coming to put things in order. I’m 100% post-traumatic, and proudly post-traumatic.”
Immediately after Sharshar came the Pirates. Israel’s Pirate Party, which requested the Hebrew ballot letters “Tzaf” (צף), has contested elections since 2013 but has never crossed the threshold. This time, however, it arrived with a high-profile recruit: behavioral economist Prof. Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, who was placed third on the slate. Wearing a pirate hat, Ariely also found himself in an unusual exchange with Sohlberg, who jokingly asked whether the number he had received was “rational.”
“The party was founded at a time when there was internet piracy, in order to rethink intellectual property,” Ariely said. “After that, we added questions about what democracy is. People come once every four years and give up responsibility, and we think modern democracy needs more transparency.” He added: “We want to appeal to people who feel they don’t have a place. Those who haven’t found a political home should join us.”
The Pirate Party and Dan Ariely submit their election slate
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
Another slate registered Monday was “Gan Eden,” or “Garden of Eden,” which requested the Hebrew ballot letters ה or יה, both associated with the name of God. Its chairman, Yeshua Ben David, is described on the party’s website as its candidate for both prime minister and finance minister. Wearing a breastplate-style badge evoking the biblical High Priest, he said he would like to serve as a priest in the future Temple. “If I can’t, we’ll start with the Knesset. It’s a Sanhedrin,” he said.
The party platform calls for a partially religious-law-based state, sweeping debt forgiveness including the cancellation of mortgages, changes to the judicial system and the closure of the Welfare Ministry. Asked why he was running despite the party’s remote chances of crossing the electoral threshold, Ben David said: “I think that if we break through in the media, it will allow the people of Israel, who are getting a lot of judgments imposed on them here, to choose new parties.”
Who pays?
According to a report in the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist, new parties competing in the election, including Naftali Bennett’s Beyachad and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, receive election financing according to the number of lawmakers they eventually bring into the Knesset, plus one financing unit worth 1.835 million shekels. Because Bennett is running on a joint slate with Yesh Atid, an existing parliamentary party, the two parties will receive public campaign funding separately and under different formulas.
When candidate lists are filed with the Central Elections Committee, parties are eligible for campaign-finance advances based on their existing number of Knesset members. New parties can obtain an advance of about 10 million shekels by providing a bank guarantee, protecting the state if they fail to cross the electoral threshold. A new party that wins at least 1% of valid ballots but does not enter the Knesset is entitled to one financing unit worth 1.835 million shekels; if it is left with unpaid debt, the guarantee can be collected.
After the new Knesset is inaugurated, parliamentary factions can also take out 54-month loans to cover campaign expenses and debts. Repayment is deducted from part of the monthly public funding each faction receives, currently about 98,000 shekels per lawmaker, while each faction also receives a fixed monthly payment of the same amount regardless of its size. Parties running together on joint slates receive that fixed payment separately even when they contest the election under one combined list.