Daily Briefing Aug. 31: Splinter parties jockey for position as election deadline looms

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode. WATCH the full episode here: With a growing number of new splinter parties on the right and center-right, some of them founded by former Netanyahu allies, Sokol reviews the latest additions, noting that most of these third-bloc parties, not part of the coalition or opposition blocs, are polling below the electoral threshold as all jockey for position. More from The Daily Briefing August 30, 2026 Daily Briefing August 30 -- Golan Druze rethink their ties to Syria August 20, 2026 Daily Briefing Aug. 20: Israel risks opening a new front with strike deep in Syria August 19, 2026 Daily Briefing Aug. 19 - Former Hamas hostage fulfills a dream at Nir Oz August 18, 2026 Daily Briefing Aug. 18 - US holds direct talks with Hamas. Why it's the new normal August 17, 2026 Daily Briefing Aug. 17: NY Jews train for mass casualty event amid heightened threats Sokol reports on the campaign of former IDF general Ofer Winter, who has placed himself firmly in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp even as he criticizes the Netanyahu government, but whose People of Israel party appears to be thriving at the cost of the Religious Zionism party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Sokol also reports on a new Haredi party, The Charedi Public, founded by Beit Shemesh deputy mayor Moti Leitner to challenge the preeminent ideologies in the ultra-Orthodox community and be more responsive to the needs and demands of the Haredi public. Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: With only days left to submit slates, small parties are still jockeying for position Netanyahu warns Winter’s party could ‘bring down’ his coalition, urges meeting With debutant Winter poised to cannibalize his bloc, Netanyahu has reason to sweat Winter launches nationalist ‘People of Israel’ party; Netanyahu warns it could doom the right No slate, no HQ: Sharren Haskel wages an uphill fight to return to the Knesset Launching campaign, new Haredi party slams ‘detachment, stupidity’ of existing factions Subscribe to The Times of Is rael Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee. Check out yesterday’s episode here: Help us report truthfully on social media As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos. 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