One of Israel’s Charedi parties has confirmed it will field a female candidate in the upcoming Knesset elections for the first time in the country’s history.
The Charedi Public, a new party formed in July under the leadership of Beit Shemesh Deputy Mayor Moti Leitner, confirmed that it had granted Dr Nechumi Yaffe, a high-profile academic, a spot on its election slate on Monday.
Yaffe, a strictly-Orthodox researcher of political psychology, previously served as the National Security Council’s advisor on Charedi affairs and was involved in coordinating the response to October 7, particularly the assistance given to bereaved families.
A senior faculty member at Tel Aviv University, she has also collaborated on a joint project with Harvard in the US, focusing on the Charedi community in North America.
“Over 30 years of an educational and academic career, Yaffe has worked to advance our Haredi brothers and sisters,” said Leitner when announcing her candidature.
If elected, she would not be the first Charedi female MK as Tzvia Greenfield, a former member of the Charedi community, won a seat for the left-wing Meretz Party in 2008.
Conversely, in 2019, Omer Yankelevich, who was born into a secular family but later became Charedi, gained a seat for Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party and went on to become Minister for Diaspora Affairs, but did not run for re-election in 2021.
However, Yaffe would be the first woman to enter the parliament as part of a Charedi party’s slate.
Under Israel’s electoral system, parties are allocated a number of seats depending on their share of the vote, which are filled by the corresponding candidates in ranked order from their slates.
Leitner did not confirm which position on his party’s slate Yaffe would fill but, as leader, he is expected to take the first slot and, with the party polling at just 3.25 per cent, it is unlikely to win more than one seat, if any.
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