Moshe Gafni Ousted from Degel HaTorah List After 38 Years in Knesset
Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni and MK Uri Maklev will be excluded from the upcoming Knesset list following the draft exemption bill failure. Yaakov Asher is set to lead the party and the United Torah Judaism alliance.
A major political shake-up has hit the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party following the failure to pass the military draft exemption bill.
Thirty-eight years after he was first elected to the Knesset, party chairman Moshe Gafni will be excluded from the upcoming electoral list. He will be sidelined alongside another veteran lawmaker, Uri Maklev, who has served in parliament since 2008.
Yaakov Asher, the former mayor of Bnei Brak, has been named the new chairman of Degel HaTorah. He will also lead the joint United Torah Judaism (UTJ) alliance.
Rabbinical Decision and Leadership Shift
Yaakov Asher was historically considered a close confidant of the late Lithuanian spiritual leader Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman. Today, Asher maintains a close relationship with the household of Rabbi Dov Lando, the current leader of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community.
Sources close to Rabbi Lando indicated that the decision to refresh the party list stems from the failure to secure the military draft exemption law, a desire to present younger candidates to the electorate, and an effort to position lawmakers who are more aligned with the current rabbinical leadership to deepen their influence within the Knesset faction.
A Historic Demand for a Cabinet Seat
Leadership of the joint UTJ list rotates between its Hasidic faction (Agudat Yisrael) and its Lithuanian faction (Degel HaTorah). With Degel HaTorah slated to lead the alliance in the upcoming elections, Asher will assume the chairmanship of the entire UTJ list.
During recent negotiations, Degel HaTorah representatives demanded a full ministerial portfolio in any future coalition government. Historically, the party avoided cabinet-level positions due to ideological reasons, preferring to hold deputy minister posts or Knesset committee chairmanships. If this demand is met, Asher is expected to become the first-ever cabinet minister representing Degel HaTorah.
Potential New Candidates
Several municipal figures are currently being considered to fill the vacancies on the party's Knesset list, including:
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Menachem Shapira — Deputy Mayor of Bnei Brak;
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Yaakov Guterman — Mayor of Modi'in Illit;
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Eliezer Rauchberger — Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem;
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Michi Alper — Chairman of the Degel HaTorah faction in Haifa.
Other potential candidates include Beitar Illit Deputy Mayor Dudi Zalz, Bnei Brak education administration head Rabbi Moshe Rosenthal, and Jerusalem Religious Council Deputy Chairman Moishy Zloshinsky.
