Shas – World Union of Sephardic Torah Guardians

Shas's central demand in this term was a law that lets full-time yeshiva students keep studying instead of serving, without penalties.

• Action: In July 2025 Shas ministers left the government because a law setting the status of yeshiva students had not passed. In October 2025 the party gave up its Knesset committee posts, saying it would return when "the status of yeshiva students is resolved" ^{[7, 87]}.
• Action: In November 2025 the Times of Israel described Shas as apparently backing MK Boaz Bismuth's enlistment bill while remaining divided over it; Bismuth had said full-time yeshiva students should be allowed to keep studying while those not studying should be drafted ^[10]. Shas MKs repeatedly voiced support for the bill, which kept exemptions for full-time yeshiva students while, according to its supporters, increasing enlistment among other Haredi men ^[34]. In May 2026 Shas and United Torah Judaism rejected a later version of the bill. After Netanyahu told the Haredi parties there was no majority to pass it, Deri called for early elections ^{[11, 12]}.
• Action: Shas backed a law, passed 58–54 on July 14, 2026, that banned arrests, investigations and other enforcement against yeshiva students who had not reported for service. All 11 Shas MKs voted for it ^[95]. Kikar HaShabbat described Deri as the law's initiator ^[30]. The law's text ran until November 30, 2026, but the Times of Israel reported that, for legal reasons tied to the election, it would in practice run into early 2027 (one report said late January, another February) ^{[13, 14]}. The Supreme Court (sitting as the High Court of Justice) froze it a day later ^{[13, 14]}, and on September 3, 2026 a nine-justice panel struck it down unanimously ^[99]. Deri said the IDF chief of staff, who opposed the law, was "trying to help the left-wing bloc" ^[13]. He also said the party should tell the court "we do not recognise your authority" and should not send lawyers to defend the law there ^[30]. In an October 2026 party bulletin he wrote that parents who send a son to yeshiva fear "that the day will come when he is arrested" ^[17].
• Action: Shas and Degel HaTorah pushed for Basic Law: Torah Study ^{[2, 6]}. A basic law is a law with constitutional status. The Knesset passed it 63–52 on July 13, 2026, with all 11 Shas MKs in favour ^[95]. It declares Torah study "a fundamental value" of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. A clause meant to balance Torah study against other values such as military service was removed before the final vote ^[6]. On June 1, 2026, Shas had told Netanyahu it would stop voting for government bills unless this law advanced ^[19]. Deri pressed for a vote in June 2026 even as Iranian missile attacks were under way, calling the law a declaration of the "contribution of Torah scholars to the people of Israel and its security" ^[21]. In July 2026 Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef told the party to back coalition bills in exchange for advancing Haredi-backed bills, writing that "under no circumstances should the passage of the Torah Study Law be put at risk" ^[22].
• Action: In August 2024 Labor Minister Ben-Tzur asked to delay by a year the cancellation of daycare subsidies for families where the father is a yeshiva student of military age ^[70].
• Statement: During a June 7, 2026 visit to a military prison holding yeshiva students, Deri said: "stop treating Torah learners as criminals" and called them "the glory of the Jewish people" ^[9]. In September 2026 he said he does "not feel obliged to urge Haredim to enlist until there are real tracks that will allow them to maintain their strictly observant lifestyle," and that "the army doesn't want Haredi soldiers" ^[15].
• Statement: In October 2026 Deri wrote that Shas would "not enter any government before the status of Torah students is settled and guaranteed" ^[17].
• Statement: Ynet reported in September 2026 that Shas now acknowledges that drafting young men who have left yeshiva studies cannot be avoided, and that MK Azoulay said the military would need to adapt itself ^[16].

Closest option(s): A law that lets full-time yeshiva students keep studying instead of serving, with no criminal or financial penalties (anchor-torah-study-exemption). The party has accepted that men who leave yeshiva may be drafted, under conditions suited to a Haredi lifestyle ^[16].

• Action: Shas pushed for Basic Law: Torah Study, passed in July 2026 ^{[2, 6]}.
• Action: The "Rabbis Law", sponsored by Shas MK Erez Malul, passed 46–35 on January 15, 2025. It lets the Religious Services Minister, a post Shas then held, allocate state funds to religious councils to pay local rabbis and ritual-bath attendants. Critics said it increased the minister's influence over local religious services ^[68].
• Formal commitment: In its December 2022 coalition agreement with Likud, Shas secured a promise to reverse the 2021 kashrut reform. That reform had allowed kosher certification by bodies other than the Chief Rabbinate. Shas also sought to cancel a directive that had changed how city rabbis are appointed, and secured NIS 220 million for building and renovating synagogues, ritual baths and cemeteries ^[31]. In 2026 the Jerusalem Post reported that the Haredi parties had sponsored legislation, since passed, repealing the kashrut reform ^[2]. The Knesset record shows the repeal passing 46–41 on July 15, 2026, with all 11 Shas MKs in favour ^[95].
• Action: On March 24, 2026 the Knesset passed, 65–41, a law that lets rabbinical courts act as arbitrators in civil disputes when all sides agree in writing. Nine Shas MKs voted for it ^{[96, 98]}.
• Statement: In February 2026 Shas, United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit said in a joint statement that they would vote for a bill giving the Chief Rabbinate full control over prayer at all parts of the Western Wall in its preliminary reading. The bill was a response to a Supreme Court ruling that the state must go ahead with upgrading the egalitarian prayer area ^[69].
• Statement: According to the Jerusalem Post, Shas and United Torah Judaism oppose civil marriage and other alternatives to religious law and want marriages to stay with the Rabbinate. They favour Orthodox control of conversion, have historically opposed expanding public transport on Shabbat, and oppose expanding non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall ^[2]. A Ynet review of party positions on Shabbat public transport in August 2026 approached only the non-Haredi parties, so it does not include Shas ^[85].

Closest option(s): Give Jewish religious law a bigger role, keeping marriage, divorce and conversion with the Orthodox Rabbinate and strengthening religious institutions (strengthen-jewish-character). Much of the record is about keeping existing Rabbinate powers, which overlaps with keep-status-quo.

• Action: All 64 coalition MKs, including Shas's 11, voted for the July 2023 "reasonableness" law. It stopped courts from reviewing whether government and ministerial decisions are reasonable. The opposition boycotted the vote ^{[58, 96]}. The Supreme Court later cancelled this law (see the issue description).
• Action: The law changing the committee that chooses judges passed 67–1 on March 27, 2025. The opposition boycotted the vote ^[59]. All 11 Shas MKs voted for it ^[96]. The law takes effect when the next Knesset begins ^[59].
• Action: On July 15, 2026 all 11 Shas MKs voted for the law on the attorney general's legal opinions, which passed 65–51 ^[95]. Under the law the government may decide that the attorney general's written legal opinions do not bind it, except in criminal matters, and may have another lawyer present its position in court. It takes effect on January 1, 2027 ^[98].
• Action: On March 20, 2023 the coalition passed in first reading, 63–55, a basic law that would stop the Supreme Court from reviewing the appointment of ministers. It followed the court's ruling against Deri's appointment and was known as "Deri Law 2" ^[61]. Ten Shas MKs voted for it ^[96].
• Statement: In April 2023 Deri said the coalition could pass its judicial bills "whenever we want" if talks with the opposition failed ^[60]. In September 2026, after the court struck out a Shas petition, he said the decision "strengthens our determination to fundamentally fix the judicial system and return power to the people and their elected representatives" ^[57]. Ynet reported that Shas was not originally a leading force behind the changes to the judicial system, and that as enforcement against yeshiva students grew, the party began criticising the justice system, which it says is harming the Haredi public in order to bring down the coalition ^[57].
• Statement: In July 2026 Deri said he would not recognise the Supreme Court's authority over the law on arrests of yeshiva students ^[30].

Closest option(s): Give elected officials more say in choosing judges and limit judicial review (continue-judicial-changes).

• Action: Shas MKs voted against every opposition bill to set up a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack that came to a preliminary reading: two bills on July 17, 2024 (ten Shas MKs against; both failed 51–53), three bills on November 12, 2025 (eight against each) and three bills on July 1, 2026 (eight against each) ^[97].
• Action: On December 24, 2025 eight Shas MKs voted for the coalition's bill for a "state-national" commission of inquiry, whose members would be picked through the Knesset. It passed its preliminary reading 53–48, with one abstention ^[97].
• Action: On October 22, 2025, Shas members of the Knesset's State Control Committee voted with Likud and United Torah Judaism to reject a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack ^[65].
• Action: On July 6, 2026 a coalition bill for an inquiry commission whose members would be picked through the Knesset passed its first reading, 59–0, with the votes of coalition MKs while the opposition boycotted the vote. The Knesset has not published a per-MK record of that vote. Ynet reported that the bill was advanced "as part of the deal between Netanyahu and the Haredi parties" ^[66]. In June 2026 Shas and United Torah Judaism had denied that there was a "deal", after Ynet reported that they had agreed to back this bill in return for their own bills. They said Netanyahu had committed to advance their own bills ^[23].
• Statement: On January 8, 2025, Shas MK Yinon Azoulay said a state commission of inquiry "should be established… as soon as possible." MK Yosef Taieb said one "is needed," but that the party would follow the Council of Torah Sages. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) had backed a state commission in a letter to the attorney general in August 2024 ^[62]. The same evening, the two MKs clarified that the decision on who would head an inquiry was up to Deri ^[63]. Kikar HaShabbat reported that they did so after Deri, who opposes a state commission, rebuked them ^[64].
• Statement: In October 2026 Shas declined to tell Ynet which inquiry model it supports ^[67].
• Contradiction: In January 2025 two Shas MKs and a Shas minister publicly backed a state commission of inquiry ^[62] (the MKs then left the question of who would head it to Deri ^[63]). In October 2025 the party's members of the State Control Committee voted against a proposal to establish one ^[65], and on November 12, 2025 both MKs, Azoulay and Taieb, voted in the plenum against three bills to set one up ^[97]. Shas was then in the coalition; the MKs had said in January that the party would follow its Council of Torah Sages and its chairman on the matter ^{[62, 63]}.

Closest option(s): Based on its MKs' votes against state-commission bills and for the coalition's bill, a commission picked through the Knesset (commission-appointed-by-knesset-balance). Some Shas MKs' January 2025 statements supported state-commission-under-existing-law.

• Action: Labor Minister Ben-Tzur voted in the government for the January 2025 hostage and ceasefire deal, saying afterwards that his "hands trembled" when he signed in favour ^[51].
• Statement: On January 28, 2025 Ben-Tzur told Netanyahu that "the six Shas ministers, led by the chairman, will support any deal you make," and urged him to move to the deal's second phase ^[51]. In July 2025 Welfare Minister Yaakov Margi said a hostage deal was needed "even at the cost of ending the war" ^[52].
• Statement: In October 2025 Deri welcomed the US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal as "a great miracle." He stressed that Israel would get all the hostages back while IDF soldiers stayed in control of more than half of Gaza "until Hamas is dismantled and another force enters." He contrasted it with earlier proposals that, he said, involved full withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power ^{[49, 50]}.
• Statement: The Jerusalem Post's 2026 election guide says Shas supports dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, while opposing indefinite Israeli control ^[2].

No published Shas plan for Gaza's future was found. In its 2022 coalition agreement Shas made no independent security or foreign-policy demands ^[31]. Searches covered party statements, the Knesset record and news coverage.

Closest option(s): Move forward with the US plan: an international force and gradual disarmament of Hamas, with the army withdrawing gradually (advance-international-arrangement). Deri's emphasis on the army staying until Hamas is dismantled also overlaps with hold-positions-disarmament-first. Apart from a Shas minister's vote for the January 2025 deal, the evidence is statements.

• Action: Although not a minister, Deri took part in the security cabinet's discussions during the wars with Iran ^{[13, 92]}. In June 2025 he described the "very hard" deliberations before the strike on Iran ^[93]. In July 2026 he said this was a small, informal forum that does not vote, and that he had barely attended in recent months ^[30].
• Statement: On April 8, 2026, Deri defended Netanyahu's decision to accept a ceasefire with Iran. He called the campaign "a war of no choice" that had achieved major results, and stressed the importance of the alliance with the United States. He accused former defence ministers and chiefs of staff who attacked the ceasefire of acting against the state for political gain ^[53].
• Statement: In an Israel Hayom interview published on April 9, 2026, Deri called the ceasefire with Iran welcome, because it made it more likely that the regime would fall from within. He said the aim of the campaign had been to create the conditions for the regime's fall. On Lebanon, speaking of Hezbollah (the Iran-backed terror organization in Lebanon), he said the army was now several kilometres inside the country and "will not leave until Hezbollah is disarmed… until the agreement is fulfilled." He also said the period of the Trump administration was a great opportunity for Israel to establish its regional standing ^[92].

No formal Shas platform on Iran or Lebanon was found. In its 2022 coalition agreement Shas made no independent security or foreign-policy demands ^[31]. Searches covered Hebrew and English news, party statements and the Knesset record.

Closest option(s): Keep up military pressure while reaching US-backed agreements, and pull back from Lebanon only once a deal is fulfilled (force-plus-us-backed-agreements), based on Deri's support for the US-coordinated campaign, the ceasefire, and staying in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed. The evidence is the leader's statements and his part in security cabinet discussions.

• Action: In July 2025 Shas was among the parties that submitted a Knesset declaration supporting applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. It passed 71–13, with ten Shas MKs in favour, and has no legal force ^{[55, 97]}. Its operative clause called on the government to apply Israeli sovereignty to "all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley" ^[56].
• Action: On binding bills to apply sovereignty, the Knesset record shows Shas MKs voting against or not voting. Ten Shas MKs voted against an opposition bill to apply sovereignty to the Jordan Valley on March 15, 2023 (failed 14–66), and nine voted against the same bill on January 22, 2025 (failed 32–56); Shas was in the coalition both times. No Shas MK is recorded as voting on the two sovereignty bills that passed preliminary readings on October 22, 2025 (the areas of settlement, 25–24, and Ma'ale Adumim, 31–9), and seven voted against a bill to apply sovereignty to Beitar Illit on December 31, 2025 (failed 8–45) ^[97]. The record does not give reasons for votes.
• Contradiction: Shas co-submitted and voted for the July 2025 motion calling for Israeli sovereignty over the areas of Jewish settlement ^{[55, 56, 97]}. Yet on December 31, 2025 seven Shas MKs voted against a bill to apply sovereignty to Beitar Illit ^[97]. It was an opposition bill, and Shas voted with the coalition. No explanation by Shas was found.
• Change over time: Earlier in the same Knesset, on March 15, 2023 and January 22, 2025, Shas MKs had voted against the Jordan Valley sovereignty bill ^[97]. Those votes came before the July 2025 motion. They were on opposition bills, and Shas voted with the coalition. Before the 2023 vote the Ministerial Committee for Legislation had decided that the coalition would not support the bill and put off its decision by six months; replying for the government, Minister Orit Strock (Religious Zionism) called it a "trolling bill" and said "the whole coalition supports sovereignty" ^[100].
• Formal commitment: The 2022 coalition agreement included a commitment to advance a "humanitarian solution" for connecting unauthorised outposts in Judea and Samaria to electricity ^[31].
• Statement: In September 2026 Shas told Ynet that, as "founders of the right-wing bloc," it is a partner to "every right-wing initiative" of Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit. It said it had voted for initiatives of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and opposes a Palestinian state ^[54]. Ynet noted that the party does not campaign on settlement, has no detailed plan on the issue, and focuses on tradition and yeshivas. As Interior Minister, Deri supported the local councils in Judea and Samaria ^[54].

Closest option(s): The evidence is mixed. The party co-submitted and voted for a non-binding declaration calling for sovereignty over the areas of Jewish settlement, and says it opposes a Palestinian state, which points to partial-sovereignty-area-c. But on every binding sovereignty bill since 2023 its MKs voted against or did not vote, and the party has no detailed plan and does not campaign on the issue, which is closer to maintain-current-situation.

• Action: Shas's December 2022 coalition agreement guaranteed "at least" NIS 1 billion for pre-loaded food cards for needy families ^[31]. The scheme was run through the Shas-led Interior Ministry. In September 2023 the Supreme Court allowed a NIS 400 million round of the scheme to go ahead, and ordered the government to review eligibility rules after petitions argued they favoured Haredi families ^[32]. In December 2025 Deri said Shas would not support the 2026 budget until a NIS 277 million food-card payment, which he said had been promised to Shas, was funded ^[33].
• Action: The 2022 agreement also included freezing utility prices and municipal property taxes and cancelling the taxes on single-use tableware and sugary drinks ^[31]. Finance Minister Smotrich ordered both taxes cancelled on January 1, 2023, in line with demands by Haredi parties ^[36].
• Action: In February 2023 Shas MKs Azoulay, Arbel, Malul, Moshiashvili and Taieb were among the sponsors of a bill to apply the Food Competition Law fully to pharmacy chains, to increase competition and lower consumer prices ^[39]. The bill became the Food Competition Law (Amendment No. 8), which passed its final reading and was published in July 2024 ^[40].
• Action: Welfare Minister Margi (Shas) backed a law, passed on March 31, 2025, setting up a national authority to fight poverty. MKs from Shas, the Democrats and Hadash-Ta'al supported it ^[46].
• Action: In March 2024 Labor Minister Ben-Tzur (Shas) signed the order raising the minimum wage to NIS 5,880.02 a month ^[89].
• Action: In January 2024 the government, in which Shas then held ministries, decided to raise VAT from 17% to 18% from January 2025. The Knesset Finance Committee approved the order in February 2024 and the Knesset plenum in March 2024 ^{[88, 89]}. At the committee, Shas MK Azoulay said he was "in essence against raising VAT" and agreed that it hurts the weakest ^[88]. The plenum approved the order 47–29 on March 11, 2024; seven Shas MKs, including Azoulay, voted for it and none against ^[96]. The rise took effect on January 1, 2025, along with other tax and price increases approved to cover war costs ^[37].
• Contradiction: In February 2024 Shas faction chair Azoulay told the Finance Committee he was "in essence against raising VAT" because it hurts the weakest ^[88], and the party's 2022 campaign promised that "Only Shas will lower the cost of living" ^[38]. On March 11, 2024 Azoulay and six other Shas MKs voted for the order raising VAT to 18% ^[96]. Shas was then part of the government that had decided on the rise as one of the steps to cover war costs ^{[88, 37]}.
• Background (before 2021): In 2015 Shas demanded removing VAT from basic products as a condition for joining the government ^[86]. This is dated background and does not decide the line below.
• Statement: The party's 2022 campaign used the slogan "Only Shas will lower the cost of living" ^[38]. The Jerusalem Post's 2026 guide says Shas calls for help to lower-income families and opposes measures that hurt poorer households ^[2].

Closest option(s): Direct help for the households hit hardest, such as food subsidies for low-income families (direct-support-for-households). The party has also pushed for removing some consumer taxes (cut-taxes-and-government-spending), and its MKs sponsored more competition in the pharmacy market (open-market-competition-imports).

• Action: Deri was among the sponsors of a Public Housing (Purchase Rights) bill ^[42]. A committee version published in November 2025 would re-enact an expired law. It lets tenants who have lived in public housing for at least five years buy their apartment at a subsidised price, with the proceeds going to a fund for buying new public housing ^[41].
• Formal commitment: Globes reported that the December 2022 coalition agreements contained concrete housing measures mainly for the Haredi public: a new Haredi city near employment centres, a plan for 200,000 homes for the Haredi population by 2035, and grants of NIS 100,000 for buyers in outlying areas. For the general public they used general language ^[43].
• Statement: In May 2026 the Israel Land Authority made settling one's military status a condition for entering "discounted apartment" lotteries, and reserved half of the apartments for reservists ^[45]. Shas faction chair Azoulay attacked the decision: "Families of terrorists will receive a 'discounted apartment,' but Torah students will not" ^[44].

Closest option(s): Help people buy directly, through discounted purchases and grants (direct-help-for-buyers). Much of the party's housing record targets the Haredi community specifically.

The record is thin. No Shas platform, official statement or recorded party vote was found on bringing in the Shin Bet, special detention powers, or more police under normal law.

• Action: In August 2023 Shas Interior Minister Moshe Arbel pressed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to release about NIS 300 million in grants to Arab local authorities that Smotrich had frozen. Smotrich said such money often reached criminal organisations. Arbel warned that freezing the funds could harm the authorities' ability to balance their books ^[90]. After a meeting with Arbel, the heads of the Shin Bet and the police and Arab local leaders, Smotrich agreed to transfer NIS 200 million, through supervision mechanisms meant to keep the money from crime organisations, and to fund technology for the police ^[91].
• Statement: In January 2025 then-Shas MK Avraham Betzalel, who is not on the 2026 list, said crime in Arab society is "a strategic threat to the State of Israel" that requires "mobilization of all state systems" against criminal organisations' finances, protection rackets, money laundering and arms trading ^[47]. He did not specify which measures.

The government approved the Shin Bet plan on July 15, 2026, after Shas had left the government. Coverage of the decision does not mention Shas ^[48]. Searches covered Hebrew and English news, Haredi news sites and the Knesset bills database.

Closest option(s): The limited record leans toward keeping funding flowing to Arab local authorities, with safeguards against crime organisations (invest-in-arab-communities-first). This rests on one minister's action in 2023, and no Shas position on the Shin Bet or special powers was found.

• Formal commitment: In the 2022 coalition agreement, Shas and the other religious parties secured promises to raise funding for schools that do not teach the full core curriculum (55% of the public-school level for exempt schools and 75% for recognised "unofficial" schools), and more funding for yeshivas and kollels (yeshivas for married men) ^[31].
• Action: Shas backed the 2026 budget, passed on March 30, 2026. A last-minute coalition change to the budget added about NIS 800 million for Haredi programmes and institutions, and the attorney general froze the funds ^[35].
• Statement: At the end of May 2026 Deri warned that the attorney general's move to cancel tax benefits for yeshivas serving students who had not enlisted could lead to "a tax revolt" ^[20]. In July 2026 MK Malkieli sought a Knesset debate against restricting tax benefits for Torah institutions with students who had not served. The motion failed on a tied vote ^[83].

• Action: Shas held the Welfare and Labor ministries in 2022–2025 ^{[31, 79]}. It backed the March 2025 law creating a national anti-poverty authority ^[46]. Its food-card programme is described under Cost of living ^{[32, 33]}.

• Formal commitment: The 2022 coalition agreement allocated NIS 5.85 billion to the health system, focused on "disadvantaged and far-flung communities." It also promised more transport subsidies for the periphery and a fast rail line from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat ^[31].

• Action: A law was passed providing for state-funded events to commemorate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. In September 2026 the Supreme Court rejected as moot a Shas petition against the attorney general's decision to block a state-funded memorial event within three weeks of the election. Deri said that "neither the High Court nor the attorney general will succeed in stopping the legacy of Maran" ^[71].

• Statement: Shas was founded to represent Sephardi Jews ^[2]. Its 2026 list includes a candidate from the Bukharan Jewish community ^[5].

• Statement: Shas ministers said they would support deals to bring back hostages, and one said a deal was needed even at the cost of ending the war ^{[51, 52]}. Deri called the October 2025 deal "a great miracle" ^[49].

• Action: The party's 2022 coalition agreement required cancelling the tax on single-use tableware, which had been brought in for environmental reasons. The tax was cancelled in January 2023 ^{[31, 36]}. Research reported by the Times of Israel found that the Haredi public saw the tax as an attack on its way of life ^[84].
• Formal commitment: In the same agreement Shas signed on to passing a stalled climate bill, including a promise to cut Israel's greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of 2015 levels by 2030 ^[31].

• Statement: In September 2026 spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said it is forbidden under Jewish religious law to vote for "someone who ascends the Temple Mount." The remark was understood as aimed at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ^[72].