The Yashar party, led by Gadi Eisenkot, launched its plan on Monday for the next government following the October 27 election, aimed at providing financial benefits and support for young adults in the country.
Yashar has been leading recent polls and is part of the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The plan involves addressing a number of issues impacting young adults, such as cost of living, housing and rent, military service, higher education, employment, and financial independence.
Among the key points of the plan laid out by the Yashar party is a 15% increase in the salaries of all compulsory-service soldiers, along with a 50% increase for combat soldiers in their third year of service.
The plan also calls for creating assistance and protection mechanisms for renters.
Modular programs, paid internships, micro-credentials
The party said that the plan seeks to adapt young adults in the higher education academic system to the job market through modular programs, paid internships, micro-credentials, and the establishment of a ministerial committee for youth affairs to coordinate government policy on the issue.
Yashar also said that the party would place a special emphasis on creating financial independence from a young age. This would be done through the establishment of a system that is said to provide young adults with practical guidance on various matters: Reading a payslip, pensions, workplace rights, loans, and taxation.
The plan would be accompanied by the establishment of a personal “jump-start account” for young adults, which Yashar said would serve as a source of information on all funds and benefits available to them.
Eisenkot said upon the release of the plan that the younger generation in the country had demonstrated in recent years “what responsibility, commitment and love of country mean.”
‘The State of Israel needs to stand up for them’
“Young men and women have repeatedly left their studies, jobs, and families to report for national service. Now the State of Israel needs to stand up for them.”
“We will change the order of priorities: Those who serve, work, and contribute to the country will receive more,” Eisenkot added.
“In salaries, housing, education, transportation, and the ability to build a family and a future here. Our mission is to make Israel a country where young people want to and can build their lives, not out of a struggle to survive, but with hope for a better future,” he said.
Yashar youth headquarters chairwoman, who is on the party’s Knesset slate, Eliana Zaks, said that she was proud to be the first party to publish a dedicated plan for young adults.
“According to the polls, Yashar is the leading party among young men and women. This is what a new governing party looks like,” she said.
