Gafni against Sephardi students: ‘Your girls’ should have somewhere to study ‘without crowding into our institutions’

By Sam Sokol 1 September 2025, 1:43 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni calls on the Shas party to open additional schools for Sephardic students in the city of Beit Shemesh so that “your girls” don’t need to “crowd into our institutions,” in comments made at the opening of the school year.

Discrimination against Sephardi students has plagued the Haredi community for years and critics charge that many Ashkenazi schools maintain nonofficial quotas of Sephardic students stemming from racism against families of Middle Eastern origin.

United Torah Judaism represents Haredim of Ashkenazi, or European, origin while Shas represents those of Middle Eastern and North African extraction.

“There is a problem with the high schools. Why do we have to constantly crowd together and reach a situation where there is no room,” Gafni asks at the opening of a new school in the city. “There is no room for Ashkenazim. No room for Sephardim. Shas is a big party, it has capabilities, it also has an education system that [can] open schools where girls can go. Why do we have to constantly deal with these problems?”

In a written statement accompanying a video of his remarks, Gafni is quoted as saying that Shas should establish new schools so “your girls will have a place to study comfortably… without having to crowd into our institutions,” which cannot accommodate everyone.

According to Channel 13, dozens of girls in Beit Shemesh were not accepted to schools this year. Efforts by the city to make Ashkenazi institutions accept the students led some rabbis to threaten not to open their schools this year.

In a statement, Shas says that its mission is “to establish excellent educational institutions for the Sephardic public, and it has been operating with great success for decades throughout the country.” Gafni’s remarks, it says, “made it clear how important it is that the Shas movement continues to be strong and independent, and how much the Sephardic public cannot rely on any other party to take care of it.”