Israel Election 2026: What do Arye Deri's Shas and Yaakov Asher's United Torah Judaism stand for?

Israel's two established haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), are two of many vying for citizens’ votes in the elections for the 26th Knesset, which will be held on October 27.

Shas was founded in 1984 as a Sephardi haredi party, emerging in part from complaints of discrimination against Sephardi Jews within the established Ashkenazi haredi political establishment. Arye Deri leads the party, with Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef serving as its spiritual leader.

United Torah Judaism was formed in 1992 as a joint list of the two main Ashkenazi haredi political factions: the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian Degel HaTorah. The alliance has periodically been strained by ideological and political disputes between the two factions, but they have continued to run together. UTJ is led by newly appointed chairperson Yaakov Asher and is advised by a council of Torah Sages from each faction.

Both parties sit on the right of Israel's political map and have been key partners of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition bloc. In the 25th Knesset, Shas won 11 seats and UTJ seven. Current polling has them at roughly seven and eight seats respectively.

Neither party has committed to sitting only with Netanyahu, and Shas’s spiritual leader has also said he could be open to a government led by prime ministerial candidate Gadi Eisenkot, challenging the assumption that a Shas vote automatically means a vote for a Netanyahu-led coalition.

The parties made numerous demands throughout the current government’s term, threatening to halt coalition voting when contentious haredi-backed bills were not advanced quickly enough.

The parties also both resigned from the government in 2025 following the fallout in negotiations when developing a bill to enforce conscription to the IDF.

Where Shas and UTJ stand on the major issues

Both Shas and UTJ have been sharply criticized for their position regarding haredi conscription to the IDF amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.

In June, Deri visited imprisoned haredi draft evaders and said his party stood behind them. Then-UTJ leader Yitzhak Goldknopf also visited the prisoners.

Deri has been a fierce critic of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and the decisions made by the High Court ordering the state to take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and to move toward criminal enforcement against them.

Both haredi parties pushed for legislation, recently passed by the Knesset, to enshrine Torah study as a fundamental value in Israel’s Basic Laws. Critics argued that the bill would encourage draft evasion, while the haredi parties presented it as protecting the religious value of full-time Torah study.

On Gaza, Shas has broadly supported the objective of dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, while opposing indefinite Israeli control of the Strip.

UTJ has not developed a similarly detailed independent position on Gaza, Lebanon or Iran, with the party's political focus largely remaining domestic.

The issue of separating religion and state is another defining area of haredi politics, as both Shas and UTJ seek to preserve an Orthodox Jewish character for the country and maintain the authority of religious institutions, particularly the Chief Rabbinate.

They have firmly opposed expanding alternatives to religious law, including civil marriage, and support maintaining the existing system in which marriages are conducted through the Rabbinate.

The haredi draft is part of this broader religious debate. Both parties claim that full-time Torah study is a central religious value that should receive legal protection, while their opponents argue that this creates unequal civic obligations between haredi men and Israelis who serve in the IDF.

Both parties have historically opposed expanding public transportation and other state-supported activity on Shabbat. UTJ has also opposed infrastructure and construction work on Shabbat.

On the issue of conversion to Judaism, the parties favor keeping the authority to do so within the Orthodox religious establishment, rejecting Reform conversions, along with other frameworks.

The haredi parties also sponsored recently passed legislation that repealed the 2021 kashrut reform, blocking private bodies from issuing official kashrut certificates and returning control over certification to the Chief Rabbinate and authorized public rabbis.

The parties also oppose changes that would expand non-Orthodox forms of worship at the Western Wall.

Regarding the topic of the contentious judicial reform, both parties have tied their support to efforts to protect haredi draft arrangements and religious institutions from court intervention.

Shas and UTJ have supported reducing the High Court’s authority to overturn legislation or government decisions, particularly when the court has intervened in haredi-related matters.

Neither party has made defense spending a defining campaign demand, as their emphasis has been on protecting haredi budgets and institutions while negotiating over the broader state budget.

Shas has called for assistance to lower-income families and for reducing measures it considers harmful to poorer households.

UTJ has placed greater emphasis on housing, including increasing the supply of housing available to haredi families and ensuring greater representation for haredim in planning and housing institutions.

Their greatest economic influence, however, comes through the state budget. Shas and UTJ have consistently fought to preserve or increase funding for haredi schools, yeshivot, families, and daycare.

In June, the two parties halted their support for coalition legislation after a bill expanding daycare subsidies was removed from the Knesset agenda. Critics argued the bill would encourage state subsidies for parents of draft evaders.

The parties have also been criticized for demanding state funding for haredi educational institutions that do not teach core curriculum studies.

What a vote for Shas or UTJ is likely to produce

A vote for Shas or United Torah Judaism is first and foremost a vote to strengthen the haredi political bloc.

For decades, voting for the parties has generally meant strengthening Netanyahu's ability to build a coalition. Netanyahu has relied on Shas and UTJ as key coalition partners, and the government's final legislative push before the election was heavily shaped by efforts to satisfy their demands.

A vote for either party is therefore likely to produce pressure for legal protection for haredi men who do not serve in the IDF, support continued state funding for haredi education and religious institutions, expanded support for haredi families and daycare, stronger Orthodox control over religious affairs, and reduced judicial intervention in haredi-related legislation.

Both parties have demonstrated that they are willing to use their Knesset votes as leverage. Their joint refusal to support coalition legislation over the daycare bill, their resignations from the government, and their threats over legislation concerning Torah study showed they are willing to prioritize their demands even at the risk of destabilizing the government.

The result is that a vote for Shas or UTJ could grant haredi leadership bargaining power over the next government.

Meanwhile, a new ultra-Orthodox party, Hardei Public, has entered the election race campaigning for a different model, in which most haredi men would serve in the military or national service.

If Netanyahu can assemble a majority with his traditional allies, Shas and UTJ, their support would likely help form a right-wing government, similar to the current one.

Alternatively, if the anti-Netanyahu camp can assemble a government and Shas is willing to cross the traditional bloc divide, the haredi parties could potentially become coalition bargaining partners on the other side.