Who they are
Merav Ben-Ari won a national television leadership contest in 2005 and put the five million shekel prize into sport centres for young people at risk, a decade before she reached the Knesset.
She was born in Ra’anana in 1975 to a father who came from Iran and a mother of Libyan descent, moved to Netanya at ten and went to the religious Bar-Ilan high school there. She served in the education corps and finished as education officer of the Golani Brigade under Gadi Eisenkot. She read law and government at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, took a master’s there in business administration and was the first woman to chair its student association. She qualified as a lawyer but left practice.
The contest was Darush Manhig on Channel 2, and its rules required the winnings to be invested: Ben-Ari opened Derech Etgar in Netanya in 2006 and a second centre in Herzliya two years later, and ran both for a decade. She reached elected office on the Tel Aviv-Yafo city council and then entered the Knesset with Kulanu. She lost the seat in 2019 and came back with Yesh Atid, and now chairs the party’s faction. With Zehava Galon she carried a 2017 amendment entitling women who had stayed in a refuge for battered women to state services, and a law of hers passed in December 2025 requires the police, the prison service and the army to report each year on sexual harassment in their ranks.
Positions and record
We could not find published positions for Merav Ben-Ari. Newcomers to a party list often have no policy record until the campaign starts. This section will fill in as they speak publicly.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.
Judea & Samariaparty lineIsraeli sovereignty in Area C and autonomy in Areas A and B, with no Palestinian state west of the Jordan.
Two states / withdrawalSovereignty / annexation
Gaza & Securityparty lineThe army keeps the right to operate anywhere in Gaza. Egypt takes Turkey and Qatar's place on the Board of Peace overseeing the strip, and Qatar is declared an enemy state.
Deal & disengagementFull military control
Haredi Enlistmentparty lineEveryone is drafted. Those who refuse lose their stipends, National Insurance discounts and rate relief, and 8.8 billion shekels moves to those who serve.
Universal draftPreserve exemptions
Judiciaryparty lineA constitution on the Declaration of Independence, an inquiry into 7 October and an eight-year cap on the premiership, with judicial review settled by broad consensus.
Court can strike lawsKnesset can override
Economyparty lineThe shopping basket 30 per cent cheaper in three years by breaking up the food conglomerates, a single food authority, European standards, and a company opened in a day.
Social spendingFree market
Educationparty lineA national council fixes 60 per cent of every curriculum and funds a school only if it teaches all of it, while heads and town halls take over the daily running.
State runs the schoolsParents and communities
Religion & Stateparty lineCivil union at the interior ministry regardless of religion or sex, conversion therapy banned, the kashrut monopoly broken, and Shabbat transport left to each town.
Civil / pluralistReligious authority
Nation & Citizenshipparty lineBennett voted for the Nation-State Law. It runs on a constitution on the Declaration of Independence, and offers Bedouin citizens integration or the full force of the state.
Equal citizenshipJewish national state
