New moderate Haredi party launches as alternative to UTJ’s and Shas’s ‘detachment and stupidity’; IDF service for all who don’t learn full-time

Beit Shemesh Deputy Mayor Moti Leitner officially launches his new moderate ultra-Orthodox party’s Knesset campaign at an event in the city, arguing that the current Haredi political leadership has “forgotten what responsibility means.”

The new party, dubbed The Haredi Public, is meant to compete with the long-established Shas and United Torah Judaism, advocating secular studies, workforce participation, and IDF conscription for anybody who does not learn full-time in yeshiva. It has yet to announce its full electoral slate.

“For the past three years, the State of Israel has been at war on multiple fronts against enemies who rise against us to destroy us, a war that began with the terrible massacre that reminded every single one of us what responsibility truly is. Thousands of Haredim stepped up and enlisted, coming to assist and trying to help in any way they could, yet it seems the heavy disasters passed over the heads of the detached political leadership,” Leitner says.

“When a party leader danced to the tunes of ‘We do not believe in the rule of heretics’ at the very same time the entire nation of Israel received news of the fall of holy fighters in battle, that was not a mistake; it was a policy” of “detachment and stupidity,” he adds, referring to a 2025 incident in which United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf was filmed dancing to an anti-Zionist, anti-enlistment song at his nephew’s wedding.

The Haredi public is currently facing an “existential danger” and the “last four years have proven that a vote for United Torah Judaism and Shas is a vote for the bullies of the Jerusalem Faction,” Leitner asserts, referring to the extreme anti-Zionist sect holding regular protests and riots against any ultra-Orthodox conscription.

“To fight poverty, we will work to ensure our children acquire basic life skills and study math and English at a high level. We will work to expand appropriate educational frameworks, vocational training, and employment opportunities. We will replace the politics of poverty — which fights against providing tools for job market integration — and implement a plan that enables a life of Torah grounded in honorable livelihood and financial independence,” Leiner declares, standing next to an Israeli flag and a party flag bearing the slogan “This time we are taking responsibility.”

Speaking with reporters, the ultra-Orthodox politician, whose party is currently polling well under the electoral threshold, says that he intends to be part of the next government as part of the pro-Netanyahu bloc. Leitner denies, when asked by The Times of Israel, a media report from earlier this month that his faction was established with the help of associates of Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot. Asked about reports that he is in talks with former longtime Shas minister and chairman Eli Yishai, Leitner replies that he is in touch with multiple political actors.

Ahead of the campaign launch, organizers sent messages to participants asking them not to publicly share the address of the venue to prevent disruptions by Haredi extremists.