In life, he was a fiery orator and campaigner who upended nearly three decades of political domination by Israel’s socialist founders and their Labor Party.

Now, 27 years after his death, Menachem Begin — the militant Zionist, the founder of the right-wing Likud party and the storied prime minister — has re-emerged as an unlikely icon as Israelis prepare to go to the polls on April 9.

With an apparent dearth of living visionaries, Mr. Begin’s legacy as both peacemaker with Egypt and bellicose champion of Greater Israel have turned him into a versatile, if posthumous, campaign prop.

Selectively appropriating pieces of his mantle, parties from the right, left and center are declaring themselves as his ideological progeny — or invoking his humility and commitment to democratic principles to show how far today’s Likud has strayed.