shas

Young Orthodox Israelis wave flags during the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, May 15, 2021. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

The radicalizing rebellion of Israel’s Haredi youth

Once staunch anti-Zionists, Haredi parties have become ensconced in the Israeli right. Now, a generation of disenfranchised Haredi youth is defying its elders and seeking meaning in the most extreme forms of supremacism.

By Pnina Pfeuffer October 31, 2022

Prime Minister Netanyahu attends a joint event of the Knesset and the U.S. Congress, at the Chagall state hall in the Knesset, Jerusalem, June 7, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu can count on U.S. Jews to stay silent on the occupation

The prime minister sparked controversy when he announced he wouldn’t be speaking at the biggest Jewish American event of the year. But Bibi knows that no matter what, American Jews won’t speak out against his occupation policies. Prime Minister Netanyahu knows that no matter what, he can count on American Jews not to speak out against…

By Joshua Leifer October 31, 2017

Yom LeYom, the Shas party's weekly paper, airbrushes the three female ministers out of the government portrait.

Ultra-Orthodox paper photoshops women out of gov’t portrait

Yom-LeYom, the official weekly of the Shas party, published the traditional group portrait of the cabinet and the president this morning — with one notable amendment: Ministers Miri Regev (Culture), Ayelet Shaked (Justice) and Gila Gamliel (Immigrant Absorption and, you guessed it, Gender Equality) were all airbrushed out. Here is the original: And here is…

By Dimi Reider May 21, 2015

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Zionist Camp supporters listen to exit poll results, Tel Aviv, March 17, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Beyond Netanyahu: On the collapse of the so-called Left

Many in the Israeli Left saw the recent election defeat as a danger to democracy. But if the Left wants to win elections, it needs to let go of its anti-Mizrahi fear-mongering and racism. by Elad Ben Elul (translated by Joshua Tartakovsky) In order to understand the outcome of the recent elections in Israel, one…

By Haokets March 27, 2015

A home demolition in East Jerusalem. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The occupation doesn’t take a day off for elections in E. J’lem

On election day, Palestinians in East Jerusalem aren’t worrying about who will be the next prime minister — they are too busy trying to protect their homes. I decided to start my day, Election Day, at the Western Wall. With all due respect to the ballot box, the Wall is the real thing when it…

By Orly Noy March 17, 2015

PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a right-wing election rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Election preview: Netanyahu’s moment of truth

The Israeli prime minister called elections hoping to strengthen his coalition, but he underestimated the personal resentment many Israelis feel toward him. One shouldn’t, however, confuse the fierce competition for power with a battle over ideas: even if Labor wins, the end of the occupation is not around the corner. When Benjamin Netanyahu decided to…

By Noam Sheizaf March 16, 2015

Jewish immigrants from Yemen at a camp near Rosh Ha’ayin. (Photo: GPO)

Behind election lurks Israel’s ethnic divide

The use of racially loaded code words at an anti-Netanyahu rally highlights the inter-Jewish racism that has plagued Israeli society and politics since day one. A look at the correlation between ethnic background and voting patterns. The anti-Netanyahu rally in Tel Aviv Saturday night was meant to be a high point of the campaign to oust Israel’s…

By Dimi Reider March 11, 2015

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‘The media makes Israeli Jews ignorant of Arab society’

How much do this country’s Jews really know about Arab society, especially around election time? The head of the Mossawa Center, Jafar Farah, says Israelis have only their media to blame for their ignorance. By Oren Persico The last attempt by the Mossawa Center to ensure fair representation for the Arab population in Israel’s news…

By The Seventh Eye February 27, 2015

MK Hanin Zoabi (photo: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)

No parity between Zoabi’s democracy and Kahane’s racism

By simply discussing the disqualification of MK Haneen Zoabi and Baruch Marzel from the upcoming elections, the extreme right has already claimed another victory. The double-hearing held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday under an extended panel headed by Justice Naor, to discuss the disqualification of MK Haneen Zoabi and Baruch Marzel, respectively, was…

By Orly Noy February 17, 2015

Shas MK Aryeh Deri (Photo by Activstills.org)

Can a feminist Mizrahi woman find her political home in Shas?

Although it is run by ultra-Orthodox men and its path for social mobility is anchored in religion, Shas remains the only truly socially minded political party and is certainly the only Mizrahi party. One voter’s search for answers. By Efrat Shani-Shitrit A few weeks ago, flyers targeting the women of north Tel Aviv were posted around…

By Haokets February 7, 2015

Still from Shas' 2015 election campaign video. (YouTube screenshot)

WATCH: Shas’ stunning election ad is a challenge to both Right and Left

The ultra-Orthodox party, which has drifted far to the right over the past several years, reaches out to the all the Israelis who are not middle-class – which is to say, the majority. Shas, the party founded by the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and today led by Rabbi Aryeh Deri, is usually seen as the…

By Dimi Reider January 18, 2015

Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Activestills.org)

What the polls say about Netanyahu’s election chances

Netanyahu has more paths to the Prime Minister’s Office than Herzog, but also more party leaders who oppose him personally. Seventy-one days ahead of Israel’s general elections, two major stories are dominating the political news cycle: the showdown between Shas’s former leaders – Aryeh Deri and Eli Yishai – and the corruption affair involving senior…

By Noam Sheizaf January 4, 2015

Moshe Kahlon is likely to be a front-runner in the upcoming elections. (Activestills.org)

Moshe Kahlon for prime minister of Israel

I’m planning to vote for Meretz, but if Kahlon has a chance on election day of beating Netanyahu, I’ll vote for him. I was talking a couple of days ago about the upcoming elections with a friend from work, a middle-class, American-born Ashkenazi immigrant with a Ph. D. in political science. He told me he…

By Larry Derfner December 6, 2014