Ninety-four percent of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) support a compulsory draft law for all citizens, a poll found, underlining the sector’s potential to shape the next national election.
Also, nearly 70% do not want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue in office.
The findings were unveiled on Tuesday evening at an election conference titled “Politics, media, and the economy among immigrants from the former Soviet Union,” held at the Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College, formerly Hadassah Academic College.
Around one million eligible voters are immigrants from the FSU, part of a wider Russian-speaking community that numbers 15% of the population. The conference examined whether this group could once again become a game-changer in the next election.
The representative survey of 663 respondents, all immigrants from the FSU who arrived in different years, was conducted by Lazar Research as part of research led by Dr. Elina Bardach-Yalov of the politics and communication program at the college and a former Yisrael Beytenu MK.
The poll showed that 94% of respondents support a mandatory draft law for all citizens, with almost no difference between political camps. That position goes beyond the public debate over integrating the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector into the IDF or a national service framework. It suggested that ex-Soviet immigrants overwhelmingly back the idea of one law for all.
Poll with former Soviet Union immigrants shows frustration with Israel's political decisions
The survey revealed deep frustration with the country’s trajectory. Seventy-two percent said they are dissatisfied with the direction in which Israel is heading. Some 68% cited the cost of living as the issue that bothers them most, followed by personal security and national security at 56%, and 37% said the separation of religion and state.
More than half of the respondents oppose the government’s judicial reform plans, while only about 20% support them, according to the data.
Despite their criticism, the immigrants still express a strong emotional bond to Israel. Forty-four percent said the thing they love most about the country is the feeling of belonging and home.
A second survey by Lazar Research, also presented at the conference, examined the economic situation of ex-Soviet immigrants. Nearly 74% said they are dissatisfied with the government’s monetary policy, yet there was a noticeable rise in optimism regarding their personal financial situation compared with previous measurements.
On the political front, the poll indicated that Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman remains the strongest party leader among immigrants from the FSU. Some 23% of respondents said they intend to vote for the party in the next election, equivalent to roughly 3.5 Knesset seats.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett came second with 17%, or about two and a half seats, taking support from voters who otherwise backed Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, Yisrael Beytenu, and Likud.
The survey also detected differences between older and newer waves of immigrants. Among those who arrived between 2022 and 2025, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein was the most popular, with 37% expressing support for him, followed by Liberman at 32%.
Overall, 69% of all respondents said they do not want Netanyahu to serve as prime minister.
Addressing the conference, Liberman delivered one of his familiar warnings about the long-term impact of Israel’s demographic and budgetary trends.
“In Israel, there are 20% Arabs and 16% haredim,” he said. “This is a mass of 36% who only think about how to exploit the state. The state will collapse. They are building a state within a state. It will not hold. It is impossible to bear this.”
Liberman also criticized the government’s 2026 budget, which has not yet been approved, saying it “looks like a horror movie.” He said “everything was cut, except for the coalition funds, which they did not dare to touch.”
Edelstein, who participated in a panel on the draft law, described in detail his failed attempt to broker a compromise on haredi conscription.
“I thought I would succeed in bringing a draft law, that we would reach real recruitment in large numbers that would answer the needs of the IDF,” he said. “I was deeply mistaken. After two years of discussions, it turned out that not only was there no willingness to do something real, but the objective function on the other side was completely different.”
While Edelstein said his goal had been “to find a suitable compromise and begin a process that within two or three years would provide an answer,” he said the goal of those sitting across from him was “how to get more exemptions, how to pass a law that would lower the pressure and restore subsidies, and at the same time would not draft too many members of the haredi public into the IDF. That is what blew everything up.
“We have no choice but to succeed with this law,” Edelstein added. “If in the past we spoke about important values like equality of rights and the people’s army, now we have reached the practical level. These are the most basic needs of the IDF. I look at some of my colleagues on the Right, and I do not understand how someone can say we must never give up Judea and Samaria but not support a real draft law. Without additional forces, we will not be able to defend the country.”
Edelstein said “our friends in the haredi public will have to join the effort, not all of them and not in one day. There will be Torah scholars who will remain to study Torah.”
He also rejected a proposal by MK Avi Maoz to change the Law of Return, which grants the right to immigrate and receive citizenship to Jews and certain non-Jewish family members.
“I hope such a thing will not happen,” Edelstein said. “I have a very consistent position. I say to everyone who comes with all kinds of proposals, do not touch it. Do not start changing it. This is a problematic law. If we litigate it in the High Court of Justice, we will get into trouble from A to Z. There is a Law of Return. Not everything is rosy, but it is always worth remembering that you know how you begin, and you do not know how you end, and in the end, we might remain a Jewish and Zionist state without a Law of Return.”