Ultra-Orthodox Parties Not in Netanyahu’s Pocket - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Akiva Eldar

Akiva Eldar

Jan 17, 2013

Ultra-Orthodox Shas party campaign stickers depicting party leader Aryeh Deri (R) and spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (L), are seen on a car in Jerusalem January 17, 2013. A fixture in successive governments, Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party draws its support from the fast-growing community of religious Jews of Middle Eastern origin whose spiritual leader is the 92-year-old, Iraqi-born rabbi Ovadia Yosef. According to opinion polls, it will maintain its 11 seats in parliament. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSAL — Ultra-Orthodox Shas party campaign stickers depicting party leader Aryeh Deri (R) and spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (L), are seen on a car in Jerusalem, Jan. 17, 2013. — REUTERS/Ammar Awad

עִברִית

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri are seen at the end of a news conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem April 2, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC163EB70890

Israeli season of political mergers in full speed

Danny Zaken

In Ma'ale HaHamisha, reporting on Israel

How Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas Party lost its way

Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men stand around a car during a mass prayer in Jerusalem March 2, 2014. Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews held a mass prayer in Jerusalem on Sunday in protest at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3FWQW

What lies behind ultra-Orthodox embrace of Labor leader?

Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Aryeh Deri (C), leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, attends an annual pilgrimage to the gravesite of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, a Moroccan-born sage and kabbalist also known as the Baba Sali, in the southern town of Netivot January 14, 2013. Powerful political players for years, Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties must now reckon with a new force ushered in by voters bent on stripping them of perks they have relied on for decades. Picture taken January 14, 2013. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS

Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party Flourishes in Opposition

Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics