Tag Archives: Yesh Atid

The Liberal Democrats and Yesh Atid: a fundamental incompatibility?

By Ruvi Ziegler | Tue 12th May 2026 - 2:56 pm

In 2021, I wrote a Lib Dem Voice article warning that our Party’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is misaligned with that of our ‘sister’ party in Israel, Yesh Atid.

Over four years later, those concerns have not diminished. Yesh Atid continues to pay occasional lip service to a two-state solution. In practice, however, the party has repeatedly aligned itself with the assumptions and priorities of the Israeli nationalist mainstream, while failing to meaningfully challenge, and at times actively enabling, the blatantly illegal actions of the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvir government. Lapid’s hardline rhetoric on territorial expansion and Palestinian statehood, admonishment of the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, and most recently his formalised political alliance with right-wing nationalist Naftali Bennett in a joint party list entitled ‘together’ (Be-Yachad) all point in the same direction. Whereas Yesh Atid adopts a liberal stance on certain domestic matters in Israel, including protections for the queer community, it is clearly not offering a liberal alternative on the question of Palestine.

In February this year, Lapid expressed support for expanding the Israeli state to its “biblical borders.” suggesting that Israeli territory could one day extend as far as Iraq. Months earlier, responding to the recognition of Palestine by the UK, Portugal, Australia and Canada, Lapid described the move as “a diplomatic disaster, a bad move and a reward for terror.” These are not the words of a man truly committed to the two-state solution.

Nor has this rhetoric been merely symbolic. In October 2025, Yesh Atid MKs voted in favour of annexing Maale Adumim, one of the largest and most strategically significant Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite annexation being clearly prohibited under international law.

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged Israeli politics | 16 Comments

Using the influence of the Liberal Network to push for peace: reviewing ties with Israel’s Yesh Atid

By Anne-Marie Simpson | Fri 15th November 2024 - 9:40 am

In September, Liberal Democrat Conference passed an emergency policy motion on Gaza and the wider Middle East conflict. We were proud to reaffirm our support for UNRWA, for international courts, and for our policies to suspend arms exports to Israel, cease trade with illegal settlements, and immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

There is, however, an unfortunate final clause in the emergency motion passed: “Conference further calls on Liberal Democrats to engage with all their ALDE and Liberal International sister parties to secure a two-state solution based on 1967 lines in the region, including Israel’s Yesh Atid party.”

Unfortunate, because Yesh Atid stands against almost everything the motion calls for.

Many Liberal Democrats will look to Gaza and think: ‘what difference can we make?’ But even in the absence of meaningful action by the government, and even from our position in opposition, there is something that we can do as an influential member of the family of liberal parties.

We can show that ‘business as usual’ cannot continue for and with those parties which completely disregard everything liberals believe in. We can and should begin moves to end Israel’s Yesh Atid party’s observer status within Liberal International.

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed two Bills outlawing the operations in-Israel of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), responsible for the co-ordination of aid programmes for Palestinian refugees.