The Haredi Parties: History, Politics and Where They Stand Now

The map

There is no single Haredi party. There are two main camps, a handful of factions inside them and a rabbinic leadership that decides what they do. Knowing who is who explains most of the news.

Noam is not a Haredi party. It is a religious Zionist party that says it stands for traditional family values, and many news outlets call it far-right. It appeals to some of the same voters. See its own profile.

What unites them. They want to protect full-time Torah study, keep their own schools, defend the rabbinate and Shabbat, and get money for their institutions and large families. They want a state that leaves their community alone.

What divides them. Ethnicity: Shas is Sephardi, UTJ is Ashkenazi. Theology: Lithuanian yeshiva Haredim and Hasidim disagree on leadership and on how close to stand to the state. Politics: Shas has historically been willing to take cabinet posts and run ministries, while UTJ has often taken deputy posts and committee chairs, and has let its rabbis decide whether to sit in a government at all.

Who decides. Rabbis, not MKs. UTJ's Council of Torah Sages ratifies major decisions. Since 2006, the decision on whether to join a coalition belongs to the rabbis. Rabbi Dov Lando, head of the Slabodka yeshiva and now 96, is the central figure for Degel. Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch was named as another possible successor to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, who died in 2022 and 2023. There are no official heirs.

A short history

Agudat Yisrael (1912). World Agudath Israel was founded in Kattowitz in 1912 as an anti-Zionist Orthodox umbrella. On the eve of 1948 it dropped its opposition to the new state and joined most governments. Real power sits with the Hasidic courts of Ger, Belz and Vizhnitz. It usually takes sub-cabinet posts, not ministries.

Shas (1984). Rabbi Ovadia Yosef founded it because Sephardi Haredim had little voice in the Ashkenazi-run Agudah. Rabbi Elazar Shach helped at the start. The name stands for "Shomrei Sfarad," Guardians of Sephardi Tradition. It built a government-funded education network in poor Sephardi towns and described itself as fighting discrimination against Sephardim. It won 4 seats in 1984 and peaked at 17 in 1999. Aryeh Deri leads it today.

Degel HaTorah (1988). Rabbi Shach founded it to split the Lithuanian Haredim from the Hasidic-led Agudah. It won 2 seats in 1988 and joined Yitzhak Shamir's coalition.

United Torah Judaism (1992). Agudah and Degel formed a joint list. It split in Jan 2004 over joining Sharon and reunited for 2006. Leadership rotates between the factions.

Seats over time.

Agudat Yisrael alone won between 2 and 5 seats from 1949 to 1988. I did not cross-check the 2015 and 2019 figures against a second source.

Two things to take from the table. Shas's big years were the 1990s, when it was the voice of a Sephardi awakening. UTJ has been remarkably steady: 4 to 8 seats in 30 years. Their combined strength in the current Knesset is about 18, and the polls have both around 7.

What they want beyond the draft

The draft dominates the headlines. It is not the whole agenda. Here is what the parties push for, based on the Jerusalem Post's 2026 explainer. The draft itself is in its own article.

The post-election bill. Maariv reported on 17 Sept, via the Jerusalem Post, that the Haredi parties want NIS 1.2 to 1.4 billion for yeshivas and institutions, capped near NIS 1.5 billion.

Haredi municipal power. I could not source this for the guide, so I left it out.

The pattern. Haredi politics is a trade. The parties give up control of foreign policy and the economy to whoever leads the government. In return, they get money for their institutions and a state that leaves their schools and Shabbat alone. That is why they can sit with the left or the right, and why the draft, which threatens the trade, has become so dangerous.

Sitting with both sides

The Haredi parties are not a Likud satellite. They have sat with the left and with the right. They have also been shut out by both. The record below is what I could verify.

The dirty trick of 1990. Shimon Peres tried to form a government with the Haredim. On 15 March 1990 the Shamir government fell 60 to 55. Rabbi Shach publicly urged his followers not to sit with the secular left. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef then refused to let Shas serve under Peres. On 11 April two Agudah MKs were absent, reportedly over the Lubavitcher Rebbe's opposition to territorial concessions, which left Peres one seat short. He gave up on 26 April. Shamir's right-wing government took office on 11 June.

What the pattern says. The Haredi parties were with the left in 1992 and 1999 and with the right most of the time since. Two ideas drive that:

• Territory. The Hasidic and Lithuanian rabbis tend to oppose giving up land. That makes the right a more natural partner on security.
• The Ashkenazi secular left. Shach's 1990 ruling set a line: no government with the secular left. The Haredi parties joined Rabin and Barak only for stretches.

They were out in 2013 and 2021, when the governments were led by Lapid, Bennett and Lapid again. Each time the stated reason was the draft and Haredi funding.

Not verified: Peres 1995 to 1996, the Olmert-era UTJ details and whether UTJ later left Sharon over the Gaza disengagement.

The drama, 2025 to now

July 2025: the exit. Yitzhak Goldknopf resigned as housing minister on 12 June 2025. On 14 July Degel HaTorah announced its exit from the government. Agudat Yisrael followed hours later. Gafni, Asher, Eichler and Pindrus resigned as committee chairs. Shas ordered its ministers out on 16 and 17 July but kept the party in the coalition.

July 2026: the laws. On 13 July the Knesset passed the Basic Law on Torah study, 63 to 52. On 14 July it passed a law freezing arrests of draft evaders, 58 to 54. Edelstein and Illouz voted against, and both said they were leaving Likud. Justice Ofer Grosskopf suspended the law with an interim order the next day, a nine-justice panel kept the suspension on 28 July, and the panel struck the law down on 3 Sept. The Knesset dissolved on 17 July.

Deri and Netanyahu.

• 11 to 12 July: Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said: "Will Bibi repent? Not a chance. Eisenkot, perhaps."
• Channel 12 reported that Deri told Netanyahu there was "nothing to talk about" without the Torah-study law and the arrest freeze.
• 16 July, after both passed: Deri told Kikar HaShabbat: "We support Netanyahu, period."

September 2026: the UTJ shake-up.

• 5 Sept (Saturday evening): Rabbi Dov Lando's office confirmed that Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev were dropped from the list, saying they would leave the Knesset "due to the need to refresh the Knesset members." Gafni was first elected in 1988 and chaired the Finance Committee for over a decade. Maklev entered in 2008. Yaakov Asher now chairs Degel and UTJ. The Times of Israel says Lando's circle pushed a harder line against the government.
• 8 Sept: Meir Porush and Elyakim Stark announced their own party, Chomat Torat Yisrael, a shelf party bought about a year before. They alleged budget delays by a Gur-run faction.
• UTJ still filed one slate, with three components (Degel, Agudat Yisrael and Chomat Torat Yisrael), seconds before the deadline after hours of infighting. Belz said its arrangement was technical, not a withdrawal from Agudah. Gur, Vizhnitz and Sanz signed separately with Degel.
• Top of the slate: 1 Asher, 2 Goldknopf, 3 Pindrus, 4 Porush, 5 Rosenthal, 6 Stark. Slots 8 to 12 conflict between sources.
• Degel asked for its first full ministerial post if UTJ joins a government.

The ballot. Shas and UTJ are on the ballot. UTJ's letter is Gimel. Haredi Public (Motti Leitner) polls 0.6% to 0.9%, below the threshold. Noam (Avi Maoz) has no poll figures I could find. See the individual profiles.

The polls. Maariv on 30 Sept to 1 Oct had Shas at 7, UTJ at 7, Likud 19, Yashar 21, the coalition at 51 and the opposition at 53. The coalition figure already includes both Haredi parties.

Will they sit with Netanyahu again?

The short answer: probably, but not at once, and not on the old terms.

What they say.

• Deri: "We support Netanyahu, period." He said it after the July laws passed.
• Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Shas's spiritual leader, said Netanyahu will not repent and Eisenkot might. He was signaling openness to the other side.
• A possible year in opposition. Maariv reported on 17 Sept, through the Jerusalem Post, that Shas and UTJ may recommend no one for prime minister and sit in the opposition for the first year over the draft deadlock. The same report says they could join any government after that. It was not a formal decision, and sources denied talks with Eisenkot.
• Abstaining on Eisenkot. Channel 12 reported on 28 Sept, via the Times of Israel and without sourcing, that Goldknopf and Tessler plan to abstain on an Eisenkot-led minority government if neither bloc has a majority. Asher denied it. He said all UTJ factions will back no government unless the exemption is "legally settled."
• Eisenkot. Says he would partner with those who accept IDF and national service. He also said Shas could be a partner on those terms.

Do they need each other? On current polling, yes. The pro-Netanyahu bloc in the Maariv poll is 51, and that already includes both Haredi parties. Without them, Netanyahu has no path to 61. That is my arithmetic, not a stated position of anyone. I could not verify a Netanyahu or Likud statement on this.

Scenarios.

I give no numeric probabilities. The likelihood column is my loose read of the reporting, not a forecast.

What would change it. The High Court. Its 3 Sept ruling striking down the arrest-freeze law and the AG's enforcement push mean the pressure on draft evaders does not wait for a new government. A new government must pass a draft law the court will accept. That is the real constraint. See the draft article.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, Maariv on a first year in opposition; Times of Israel, Shas rabbi on Eisenkot; Times of Israel, Deri: we support Netanyahu; Times of Israel, Haredi MKs and an Eisenkot government; Times of Israel, Gafni removed; Ynetnews, UTJ shake-up; Israel National News, Chomat Torat Yisrael; Matzav, UTJ slate; Jerusalem Post, Haredi explainer; Wikipedia pages on Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah, Shas, United Torah Judaism and the 1990 dirty trick.