On October 27, Israelis will head to the polls to vote in what is arguably the most important election in the country’s history.
In our series of explainers, we lay out the runners and riders vying to lead the country, the parties in contention and how Israel’s election process works.
Here’s what you need to know about Israel’s two major Charedi parties, and their upstart challenger.
There are two established Charedi parties in Israel, representing a community that accounts for about 14 per cent of the country's population.
Shas, which had 11 out of 120 seats at the end of the last Knesset, principally represents Sephardi and Mizrahi (Middle East and North Africa) Charedim. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) represents the Chasidic and Lithuanian Ashkenazi communities and had seven seats.
Both parties were part of Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition until July 2025, when they fell out over military service for yeshiva students, one of the principal sources of tension between the Charedi parties and the wider electorate.
UTJ quit the government and the coalition in protest, and Shas withdrew its ministers from the government.
What distinguishes the parties, aside from who votes for them, is their differing relationship with the State of Israel. UTJ explicitly says it does not consider itself Zionist and does not endorse a secular state. Shas stops short of describing itself as Zionist, but says it does recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people.
Despite that, there is far more that unites the two parties than divides them.
Both seek to protect Torah study and oppose the broad conscription of Charedi yeshiva students into the IDF. They aim to preserve Charedi educational autonomy and state funding for Charedi institutions, and maintain Orthodox control over marriage, conversion, and kashrut. They also oppose civil marriage and expanded public activity on Shabbat.
They are nevertheless separate political parties representing different constituencies. Shas has a broader electoral base, attracting some traditional and religious Sephardi and Mizrahi voters who are not Charedi, whereas UTJ's electorate is much more concentrated within the Charedi community.
They have generally cooperated on the issues that matter most to their constituents and have also usually operated together in coalition negotiations.
Shas
Shas was established in 1984, largely to address what was perceived as the institutional disadvantage and political under-representation of Sephardi Jews in Israel. It has traditionally been part of the right-wing and Charedi coalition camp, but since the split with Netanyahu last year, it has not committed itself to another coalition with Likud.
The party's leadership divides, sometimes uneasily, between Aryeh Deri (political) and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (religious). Deri, aged 67, has been the dominant political figure in Shas since its early years, with a notable 22-month absence after he was jailed for accepting bribes while serving as interior minister.
Yosef, aged 74, is the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who founded the party. He served as Israel's Sephardi chief rabbi from 2013 to 2024.
The balance between the two became particularly contentious in 2026, when they became embroiled in a public power struggle, before reaching a reconciliation.
Shas has historically involved itself more than UTJ in political issues beyond the Charedi world. It broadly supports peace agreements with Arab states, opposes dividing Jerusalem, and has generally been against territorial concessions.
Shas argues that full-time Torah study is a central religious value and has backed legislation enshrining it as a fundamental value in Israel's Basic Laws.
It supports an Orthodox Jewish character for the state and Chief Rabbinate authority over marriage, conversion and kashrut, and opposes civil marriage and expanded non-Orthodox arrangements at the Western Wall.
It seeks to preserve Charedi educational autonomy and state funding for Charedi schools and yeshivas, including institutions outside the state education system, despite disputes over funding schools that teach limited or no core curriculum. The party emphasises welfare and assistance for lower-income and Charedi families.
Shas has supported limiting the High Court's ability to overturn legislation and government decisions, particularly on Charedi draft arrangements and religious institutions.
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism is an electoral marriage of convenience between two parties with distinct identities - Agudat Yisrael, representing the Chasidic tradition, and Degel HaTorah, representing the Lithuanian tradition. The two factions have contested elections together since 1992, despite periodic disagreements.
UTJ's political focus is narrower than Shas'. Its principal concerns are Charedi education, welfare, Torah study, military-service arrangements and preserving the religious character of the state. On broader questions of security, diplomacy and territory, it has generally taken less defined positions than Shas.
UTJ is led by Yaakov Asher, aged 61, a former mayor of Bnei Brak, who took over from longtime leader Moshe Gafni in September 2026 after some internal wrangling.
He serves as political chairperson and heads the party's list of who will sit in the next Knesset. But UTJ's political authority is shared between its constituent factions and the councils of Torah sages that advise them.
UTJ firmly shares Shas' fundamental position that full-time Torah study should receive legal protection, and that yeshiva students should be exempt from military service. Unlike Shas, it has traditionally maintained a limited independent position on foreign policy and national security.
Both parties are largely aligned on the "state versus religion" issues outlined above.
Shas places greater emphasis on welfare and support for lower-income families, while UTJ focuses more on housing, education and yeshivas. There are, however, few fundamental differences between the parties on these issues.
For decades, Shas and UTJ have been among Netanyahu's most dependable coalition partners. Shas has joined five of Netanyahu's six governments since 1996, UTJ has joined four.
But this time it's different. Netanyahu has, for a long time, broadly supported the exemption for full-time Charedi yeshiva students. But last year he alienated both Shas and UTJ by refusing their demands to enshrine that exemption in law.
Now it is unclear if he can rely on their support, or indeed where they would go, if not with Likud. In the last Knesset (and very likely in the next) the two Charedi parties had 18 seats between them. That's enough to materially alter the coalition arithmetic.
The Charedi Public
As a footnote to Shas and UTJ, there is a new party to mention - HaTzibur HaCharedi (The Charedi Public). Its defining position is that Charedi men who do not genuinely study Torah full time should serve in the IDF (or perform some security or national service).
As things stand, it is highly unlikely to cross the electoral threshold, but its emergence indicates a shift among at least some parts of the Charedi community.
The party is headed by Moti Leitner, deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh (a Charedi-majority city), and was founded in August 2026.
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