Charedi Public party leader Leitner refuses to quit election race despite pressure from Netanyahu

Charedi Public party leader Moti Leitner announces at a press conference that he will not withdraw from next week’s election despite mounting pressure to quit, including from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.

“I met with the prime minister at his request and listened to his proposal, but United Torah Judaism and Shas are threatening me and ignoring the need for change,” Leitner says, referring to the two dominant ultra-Orthodox parties.

“I am not withdrawing. We are not withdrawing. We are moving forward at full force and building a new political home. The monopoly of Shas and United Torah Judaism is over,” he adds.

Netanyahu met with Leitner last night in an attempt to persuade him to withdraw, according to Hebrew media reports. Charedi Public, which is expected to fall well below the 3.25% electoral threshold, risks siphoning votes from the two Netanyahu-aligned Haredi parties and wasting them if it fails to enter the Knesset.

“If we withdraw now, the old, corrupt system will be the winner,” Leitner warns.

In a subsequent post on X, he accuses the established Haredi parties of maintaining a “violent political monopoly” that has denied ultra-Orthodox Israelis genuine representation for decades and condemned tens of thousands of children to poverty.

Charedi Public has set itself apart from mainstream ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas with its relatively moderate stances on IDF enlistment and Haredi education, and by including women on its Knesset slate. Its priorities include funding for ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, an agreed-upon military conscription plan, and core curriculum studies for the Haredi community.