B’Yachad has a comprehensive plan to support the spouses and families of reservists, recognizing them as full partners in the national effort. The plan gives them their own recognized status and direct rights, including parents in shared-parenting arrangements.
It cuts unnecessary bureaucracy through an “Ask Once” model so families don’t have to repeat the same request to multiple agencies. It provides automatic financial compensation from the moment a call-up order is received, fully subsidized daycare and afternoon programs, and expanded employment protections. Together, we will ease the burden on the home front, strengthen family resilience, and protect the careers and livelihoods of reservists’ partners while their partners serve.
What's the problem?
Every reserve call-up order lands on the partner or parent left on the home front, all at once. They then must carry everything that used to be shared between two people: childcare, running the household, and sometimes earning the family’s income as well. Behind roughly 120,000 reservists with families stand their partners and 369,000 children, holding their households together alone, round after round of service.
Reservists’ partners carry the burden, but in the eyes of the state they do not exist. Every right runs through the reservist, every request is filed in their name, and every payment goes into their account. The support doesn’t match reality either: the 2026 assistance package was designed for 55 days of service, yet many reservists have already served more than 110 days. Families are sent from agency to agency, filling out the same forms again and again with information the state already holds. In the end, many simply give up.
Among spouses, 70.9% felt they needed professional psychological help while 30.6% gave up on seeking treatment. More than half cut their working hours, and 14% were fired or placed on unpaid leave. Israel’s most productive families are being worn down, and the careers of those who stay home pay the price.
What's the solution?
We will recognize the person who keeps the household running as a full partner in the national effort. Spouses, and parents who hold the household together on the home front, will receive a recognized status and direct rights. The state will stop waiting for families to come to it. It will identify what they are owed and deliver it to them.
Support will be scaled to the real load each family carries, and we will protect each family’s livelihood. For employees, we will set civil-service hiring targets, give employers who hire reservists’ family members priority in government tenders, and expand employment protection. For the self-employed, we will extend compensation to cover the business’s recovery period after service ends. That is how we will secure the home front for those who hold it together.
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Our reservists' look after us - here's how we'll look after their families
01
Direct rights, no middleman
Spouses and parents who keep their households running during reserve service will receive their own recognized status with the state. Today, every right is attached to and delivered through the reservist, the request is filed in their name, and the payment goes into their account.
We will define two official, complementary statuses: “Partner of a Reservist,” which will also include unmarried couples and couples without children, and “Parent Carrying the Burden,” which will also apply in cases of divorce, separation, and shared parenting. With this status, family members will be able to submit requests themselves, track their progress, and exercise their rights directly in the areas of mental health, relationships, and employment. Payments and reimbursements will go straight to their own bank accounts.
02
Just Ask Once
We will consolidate all rights and information in one place and run an automated system based on the Ask Once model. Information the state already holds will not be requested again. The system will identify what each family is entitled to, notify them, and activate the right on their behalf, with no chasing after forms. Alongside the system, there will be a human point of contact: a reservists’ families coordinator in every local authority, who will guide each family through whatever it needs.
03
Financial compensation will arrive with the call-up order, not after the fact
We will activate automatic eligibility for financial rights as soon as the order is received, instead of a system of retroactive reimbursements. This will ensure families receive their full rights and cut down on bureaucratic runaround. For example, payment for a babysitter will be sent when the order is received, rather than after the fact and only on presentation of receipts. At the same time, we will expand and adapt the support so that it matches each family’s level of burden, according to the Traffic Light model.
04
Those who carry more of the burden – will receive more
We will adopt the “Traffic Light Model” developed by the Reservists’ Spouses Forum. It is a personal burden index that weighs the length and continuity of service, the nature of service, and the complexity of the family unit. Based on the index, we will distribute resources and support differentially across all ministries and authorities: education, health, labor, and local government. We will appoint a senior, dedicated official in the Ministry of Defense who will be responsible for families’ rights, coordinate work among the ministries, and make sure the rights are actually implemented.
05
Employment protections for reservists’ partners
We will give priority in government and local authority tenders to employers who employ a significant share of reservists’ partners or burden-carrying parents, and not only to businesses owned by reservists. In addition, we will publish an accessible annual index showing, for companies above a threshold to be set, the share of reservists and the share of their partners among all employees.
06
Protecting the Self-Employed
We will expand the compensation track for self-employed people whose partners are serving. Compensation will be calculated using a transparent formula and will also recognize the business’s recovery period after service ends. It will not depend on the business’s activity tier, and payment will go directly to them.
07
Caring for Their Children
We will provide full subsidies for daycare for ages 0-3: NIS 3,750 per month for combat soldiers, NIS 3,000 for combat support soldiers, and NIS 1,000 for the entire serving and working public. In addition, we will provide full subsidies for afternoon programs as well as for camps during the summer vacation and holidays. This will lift the financial and caregiving burden from the family so the parent who stays home can keep working without interruption.
