The heads of two of Israel’s leading religious-Zionist education networks have joined the leadership of an election campaign seeking to increase turnout among right-wing supporters and raise the National Camp’s representation to 61 seats ahead of the election scheduled for 27 October 2026, prompting debate over the separation between educational work and political mobilisation.
The two network heads join the V26 headquarters
The V26 headquarters is jointly led by Elhanan Galat, director-general of the Bnei Akiva Yeshivas and Ulpanot network of religious schools and institutes, and Yanki Friedman, director-general of the Noam–Tzvia network. The two officials oversee extensive networks integrated into the official religious education system, with links to tens of thousands of pupils, graduates and families.
Journalist Moti Tuchfeld revealed on 24 August 2026 that the V26 headquarters had been established under the leadership of Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, with the participation of Yaakov Weinberger and Yoni Yisraeli, two leaders of the Likud Shelly group within the Likud party. The project set itself the goal of increasing turnout among National Camp supporters, particularly in outlying towns, neighbourhoods and right-wing strongholds that record low voting rates.
Campaign mobilises voters to reach 61 seats
The campaign relies on thousands of volunteers who knock on voters’ doors, as well as providing transport to help them reach polling stations. On 4 October, it was announced that the campaign’s field operations were aimed at enabling the National Camp to reach a 61-seat majority.
Dagan said that “getting National Camp members out to vote is the key to victory”. Although the headquarters does not call on voters to choose a specific party, it openly states that its activities aim to strengthen the right-wing bloc. Galat and Friedman’s joining its leadership was announced the same day.
Galat said he was participating in the campaign “in a personal capacity”, but acknowledged that he had worked with Dagan in the same way during the previous election, as part of a project that helped the right-wing camp increase turnout among its supporters. Friedman spoke of the need to strengthen the “right-wing pillar” and “faith-based strength” before election day. Hebrew-language coverage has described the V26 project as the “right-wing headquarters”.
Barle Crombie, head of the Gaza settlement movement Tekuma and a member of the headquarters, also said that “the right wing is in a state of emergency”, linking the campaign’s objectives to preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state and maintaining the settlements. The sensitivity surrounding the officials’ participation stems from the size of the two institutions they run.
The size of the Bnei Akiva and Noam–Tzvia networks
The network’s influence extends beyond its enrolled pupils to graduates, pupils’ families and the communities surrounding its educational institutions. The Noam–Tzvia network, established in 1971, has 59 schools spread from northern to southern Israel, attended by about 11,000 male and female pupils.
The network presents itself as one of the “religious-Zionist Torah education” networks linked to the thought of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, while Education Ministry documents show that it is integrated into the official religious education framework. According to published information, neither network is organisationally affiliated with a specific political party. The Noam educational network is also distinct from the Noam political party and should not be confused with it.
From educational influence to election mobilisation
The two institutions are ideologically part of the religious-Zionist environment, however, and the network heads’ joining an election headquarters shifts that presence from the educational sphere to activity with declared electoral objectives. The networks’ links to large numbers of pupils, graduates, families and communities add to the significance of the issue, giving their heads organisational capacity and a network of relationships that could become electorally influential when used for political mobilisation.
Galat, for his part, relies on his assertion that he is participating in a personal capacity and not as an official representative of the institution he runs. Israeli Education Ministry instructions state that “election campaigning of any kind is prohibited inside educational institutions”.
The instructions also impose restrictions on education workers’ participation in election campaign activities, particularly those holding administrative authority. In a study published on 7 September 2026, researchers Meital Bar-On and Dafna Kahana-Dolev of the Israel Democracy Institute noted that the State Education Law distinguishes between political education and partisan campaigning.
The law prohibits an employee working in an educational institution from conducting campaigning among pupils on behalf of a party or political organisation. Nevertheless, the V26 headquarters case appears less clear-cut than previous incidents in which the Education Ministry took action against educational institutions.
In October 2013, the ministry intervened after it emerged that a school affiliated with the Maayan Hahinuch Hatorani network, which is linked to the Shas party, had distributed letters to parents urging them to vote for the party. The case also revealed at the time that teachers at the school had called parents and asked about their voting intentions.
The use of the school, its staff and its direct relationship with pupils’ families in partisan campaigning provided clear grounds for the Education Ministry to intervene. In the V26 case, however, there is so far no evidence that Galat and Friedman used the networks’ resources, employees, premises or pupils’ and parents’ data in field activities supporting right-wing objectives.
This allows them to argue that their participation is personal, despite media reports identifying them alongside their professional positions and management of the two networks. The issue has become more sensitive with Yoav Kisch, a minister and Likud candidate, heading the Education Ministry, after he said in election interviews that it was necessary to prevent “wasting votes on the right”.
The Central Elections Committee, an authority independent of the government, has also taken no action in the Galat and Friedman case so far. This has raised questions about why they have not been referred for disciplinary or legal proceedings, and about the limits of applying election campaign rules to officials of educational institutions.
