national religious camp

Former justice minister Ayelet Shaked poses for a selfie during a press conference in Ramat Gan, July 21, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

August 7, 2019, 6:07 am

How Ayelet Shaked, a secular woman, came to dominate Israel’s religious right

No woman has ever risen to the pinnacle of political power in a bloc representing the traditionally patriarchal Orthodox community

By Sam Sokol

URWP chairman Rafi Peretz arrives at a gathering of the Jewish Home party in Ramat Gan on June 19, 2019. (Yehuda Haim/Flash90)

July 16, 2019, 10:32 am

Preaching to the converted: Peretz’s LGBTQ comments are bad politics

The education minister’s views are pretty much mainstream among religious Zionists, but expressing them this close to the elections may not have been a good idea

By Jacob Magid

Education Minister Naftali Bennett speak at a press conference announcing the launch of his New Right party's 'New South' campaign, in Ashdod on March 26, 2019 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 12, 2019, 3:30 pm

Bennett assails Jewish Home, which he once led, after MK accuses him of betrayal

New Right chairman says his former party now prides itself on opposition to female military enlistment and LGBTQ rights

By Jacob Magid

Yeshivat Torah HaChaim head Rabbi Shmuel Tal gives a sermon on December 27, 2018. (Screen capture/Youtube)

May 30, 2019, 10:15 pm

Top rabbi blows lid off rabbinic scandal, rocking national religious public

Shmuel Eliyahu accuses spiritual leader Shmuel Tal of having inappropriate relationships with female followers, justifying them by claiming ‘holy spirit’ was revealed to him

By Jacob Magid

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett hold a press conference of the New Right Political party, in Tel Aviv on March 17, 2019. (Flash90)

April 12, 2019, 3:40 am

How did 2 of Israel’s most prominent ministers end up outside the 21st Knesset?

Bolting Jewish Home for New Right, Bennett and Shaked offered a trailblazing religious-secular partnership. Bizarrely they then reversed, and tried to return to an unforgiving base

By Jacob Magid

New Right co-leaders Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett address supporters at their campaign headquarters in Bnei Brak at the end of election day, April 9, 2019. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

April 10, 2019, 1:56 am

New Right supporters fear the worst, despite party leaders’ assurances

While Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked assert they’ll comfortably cross threshold, TV exit polls showing the contrary leave party activists far more frustrated than hopeful

By Jacob Magid

(L) URWP chairman Rafi Peretz seen outside a voting station in Sderot on April 9, 2019. (Flash90), (R) New Right co-chairman Naftali Bennett casts his ballot in Ra'anana on April 9, 2019. (Education Ministry)

April 9, 2019, 9:35 pm

Right-wing parties sling mud at each other in last-hour bid to sway voters

New Right and Union of Right-Wing Parties send message blasts, each claiming the other is undermining its chances

By Jacob Magid

Union of Right Wing Parties' candidates from the Jewish Home and National Union parties at the joint list's campaign launch event in the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel on March 11, 2019. (Miri Shmanovitz)

March 12, 2019, 3:18 am

National religious parties launch campaign, with far-right far from sight

Leaders of Union of Right Wing Parties appear eager to broaden appeal, while almost entirely ignoring the Kahanist Otzma Yehudit, whose representatives are stumping separately

By Jacob Magid

An Israeli votes at the settlement of Efrat on March 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

March 7, 2019, 3:42 pm

What Netanyahu’s election strategy says about how settlers vote

Premier is targeting residents across the Green Line generally drawn to national religious parties, while placing less focus on sizable secular and Haredi populations

By Jacob Magid

The West Bank Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, Sunday, October 21, 2018. (AP/Majdi Mohammed)

February 13, 2019, 7:43 pm

PM says ‘it would certainly help’ if Khan al-Ahmar razed before election

Two ministers claim anonymously that Netanyahu may be seeking to exploit timing of Bedouin hamlet’s demolition for political gain ahead of national vote

By Jacob Magid

Flowers lay on the grave of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin during a memorial service marking 21 years since his assassination, held at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on November 4, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 14, 2018, 11:45 am

Religious soldiers jailed after refusing to visit Rabin’s grave, going AWOL

Four servicemen sentenced to 14 days in prison after they refuse to visit the burial site of Israel’s assassinated PM while on an army trip

By Judah Ari Gross

Rabbi Eli Sadan speaks during a protest in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on February 21, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

May 2, 2018, 10:38 am

Officers and gentlemen? Religious Zionist flagship academy comes under scrutiny

Illiberal remarks by rabbi-teachers shine spotlight on pre-military institution, whose graduates wield considerable influence in the IDF

By Jacob Magid

April 11, 2018, 11:50 am

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

No, my career didn’t ruin me for marriage

Some influential Religious Zionist rabbis claim women who work are damaged goods; I know they’re wrong

Female graduates of the IAF's 163rd flight school course (photo credit: IDF Flickr/CC BY-NC)

March 10, 2018, 4:56 pm

Outcry as IDF removes video celebrating female air force soldiers

Clip was posted for International Women’s Day; taken down amid reported pressure from religious groups who oppose integration of female soldiers into combat roles

By TOI staff

Illustrative photo of religious girls at study. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

February 14, 2018, 9:12 am

Religious girls protest pressure to join Israeli military

Campaign follows Education Ministry proposal to fund groups that guide religious women who want to join the IDF

By JTA