Haredi share in Likud said to triple, as thousands join party in membership drive

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox voters have reportedly joined Likud as part of a bid to directly influence the workings of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party.

The share of Haredi members in Likud, Israel’s largest party, which is led by Netanyahu and is one of only a handful to hold primaries for its electoral slate, has tripled, Channel 12 reported Tuesday. The party’s liberal wing, meanwhile, has shrunk, the report said.

The Haredi growth comes as Likud completes a drive for new and lapsed members to join the party, which currently leads the coalition in the Knesset and has governed Israel for most of the past half-century. It also comes amid a major political fight over exempting ultra-Orthodox men from the military draft.

Channel 12 noted that Haredi public relations strategist and Likud party operative Yossi Rosenbaum recently registered 2,163 new Likud members, making him one of the drive’s most prolific recruiters. That figure brought the total number of Likud voters he has registered to approximately 7,300.

Out of Likud’s 140,000 members, fewer than 80,000 voted in the most recent primary, the network said.

The growth of Haredi membership in Likud could signal a new desire to influence a mainstream party from within. Historically, the ultra-Orthodox community has engaged in electoral politics through the United Torah Judaism party, which caters to Ashkenazi Haredim, and the Shas party, which caters to Sephardim.

*מלוכדים News* : אורח מפתיע במצודת זאב: יו"ר הכנסת אמיר אוחנה הגיש היום טפסי התפקדות לליכוד יחד עם האסטרטג החרדי יוסי רוזנבוים . pic.twitter.com/RwXEGJBToO

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Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana presents party registration documents alongside Haredi strategist and Likud party operative Yossi Rosenbaum (R) in 2023.

Netanyahu has partnered with the two ultra-Orthodox parties repeatedly in recent decades, and without their support his current coalition would lose its majority.

United Torah Judaism left the coalition last month, however, and Shas left the government while remaining in the coalition, amid an impasse over the military draft, after the long-standing broad exemption of Haredi young men was struck down by the High Court of Justice last summer.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The Israel Defense Forces has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, due to the strain on standing and reserve forces amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

In the wake of recent IDF enforcement operations against draft dodgers, the Haredi community has declared “war” against conscription, holding regular protests outside of the Beit Lid military prison, where draft-evaders have been jailed, and blocking roads around the country.