Between the conscription crisis and the elections: The battle for the Haredi vote

On the Haredi street, the election atmosphere is still on a low flame. This week, yeshiva students and children from Talmud Torah schools went on 'Bein HaZmanim' vacation, the three weeks between the end of the school year on Tisha B'Av and its renewal on Rosh Chodesh Elul. However, while staying at home or going out to the streets of Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, and other Haredi centers, they still do not encounter billboards asking for their vote. They traditionally vote for the Haredi parties by the command of their rabbis. In Shas and United Torah Judaism, they prefer to wait with the campaign, and it is not impossible that they are testing messages after the disappointment with the conscription crisis and the arrest of deserters. Meanwhile, those trying to exploit the feeling of some Haredim that they do not have adequate representation in the Knesset are other parties and founders of new movements who will try to challenge those who have represented the Haredim for decades.

This was a term that began with high expectations from the Haredi representation in the Knesset. In a 'fully right-wing' government where every party received all its terms in the coalition agreements without opposition from partners, the sector hoped for the regulation of the 'Torah is his craft' status by law and with it an exemption for every Haredi youth studying in a yeshiva, thereby ending the conscription saga. Today, when election day is around the corner, the situation is the opposite. There is no exemption, Agudat Yisrael is in conflict with Benjamin Netanyahu, Degel HaTorah has already announced it is not part of the bloc, Shas is trying to bridge between its Ashkenazi sister and the Likud and Religious Zionism, and above all, every Haredi youth feels the economic sanctions in his pocket and is destined at any moment for arrest for failure to report for conscription.

The upcoming campaign: the discussion in the Supreme Court on the law to freeze arrests and the interim order issued by the judges harmed the intention of the Haredi MKs to pass the Bein HaZmanim without arrests, but the blow they suffered from the court is expected to be at the center of the campaign, which will be focused on messages against the judicial system. The parties will try to work in a short and focused campaign that will start closer to the elections. As is customary in Haredi parties, the names of the great rabbis will be recruited to call for fulfilling the commandment in their view and to vote. In Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael, separate campaigns are expected to be launched to consolidate 'unit pride' in each party in an attempt to strengthen the voters. The sense of tribalism will be put to the test with the goal of recruiting as many voters as possible - but it will still be difficult for them to ignore the term that ended with sanctions and arrests on the streets.

One of those who will try to benefit from this feeling of political orphanhood among some Haredi youth is Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Just recently, after a sharp confrontation between extremist protesters and police officers who used excessive force, Ben Gvir was interviewed on the Haredi radio station Kol Berama and said about the criticism from Aryeh Deri that was directed at him that morning: 'What Aryeh Deri is doing is complete hypocrisy. He and his Knesset members were in some long winter sleep, and suddenly 'good morning Eliyahu'. Everyone knows that I am the only person in this government who is fighting alone against the Attorney General who is persecuting the Haredim. The Haredi public is not a sucker.' In Otzma Yehudit, they say that the party sees itself as a representative of all sectors, including the Haredim.

The new factions: those who will also try to exploit the crisis and challenge the big parties are entrepreneurs who have launched new parties. So far, fresh Haredi parties that ran outside of Shas and United Torah Judaism have not really succeeded. Eli Yishai, who left Shas, managed together with parts of Otzma Yehudit to get close to the electoral threshold in the 2015 elections but remained outside the Knesset. Other organizations, such as attempts to establish parties for working Haredim, suffered an even more crushing failure. Despite this, yesterday in Jerusalem, a new Haredi party was launched called 'HaKahal', whose goal is to hold primaries and create a list of Haredi candidates chosen by a public of thousands of registered members. Rabbi Dov Bakst, head of a kollel in Bayit VeGan in Jerusalem and a member of the Kiryat Yearim council, is one of the party's founders: 'It is written in the Gemara 'One does not appoint a leader over the public unless one consults with the public'. We want a list that the public will choose, not sons of and not associates of functionaries, but according to the public.' Another founder, Rabbi Shlomo Elboim, said: 'The time has come for there to be a Haredi party that does not produce only those who study or only the outstanding - but the entire public. Just as it cannot be that a teacher in a class relates only to the outstanding students.' When the committee members were asked if women would be able to run in the primaries, no clear answer was given, and certainly not a positive one.

Someone who is also trying to bring a similar voice is the Deputy Mayor of Beit Shemesh Motti Leitner, who is known for his activity to integrate the Haredi public into state education systems, employment, and security service. Last week, the 'Haredi Public Faction' was established, headed by him, which launched a billboard campaign with the faction's representative Leitner appearing alongside the letter 'Gimel' (ג), the letter of the United Torah Judaism list in the ballot, to convey the message that they demand to include a representative on their behalf in United Torah Judaism. The faction also asks to include a representative in Shas. Leitner threatens that if his demand is not met, he will try to integrate as an independent faction within other right-wing parties and try to garner votes of working Haredim or those aspiring to integrate. In no new party is there currently an opening for the representation of Haredi women. These days, the 'Haredi Women's Primaries' initiative is taking place online. It is not a party primary, but a public move intended to raise the issue of the lack of representation of Haredi women in politics. The candidates did not submit themselves, but were chosen based on a survey that examined which Haredi women are perceived as prominent public figures worthy of representation. The public is invited to 'vote' for them symbolically, to illustrate that there are many Haredi women who can represent the public.