Shas, the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party, looks forward to continuing to work with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hopes the current right-wing bloc will remain in power, Shas lawmaker and former deputy minister of agriculture and food security Moshe Abutbul told JNS on Tuesday.
Relating to the upcoming Oct. 27 elections, Abutbul said, “We don’t know what will happen with the other [opposition] bloc. There are many factions that disappear over time. At the beginning, [Yair] Lapid and [Naftali] Bennett [of the Together party] were among the leading factions [in the polls], and little by little they declined. If we wait, we may see other people emerge on the political map,” he said.
Born in Beersheva in 1965, Abutbul moved to Jerusalem at a young age to attend a religious boarding school before continuing his yeshivah studies until he married. Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, founder and dean of the Ohr Hachaim Yeshivah in Jerusalem, recognized Abutbul’s capabilities and, after the establishment of Shas, appointed him as the party’s representative on the Beit Shemesh City Council.
During his two terms as mayor of Beit Shemesh, Abutbul oversaw the construction of 40,000 housing units, along with classrooms, kindergartens, playgrounds, shopping centers and roads as part of the city’s development.
After serving 10 years as mayor (2011-18), Shas founder Aryeh Deri asked Abutbul to serve in the Knesset. Abutbul has been a lawmaker for the past seven years and was deputy minister from January 2023 to July 2025.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter tasked Abutbul with recruiting as many volunteers as possible to help farmers work their fields after Palestinian laborers were barred from entering Israel for security reasons, while many foreign workers also left the country. Abutbul also highlighted his efforts to help farmers continue operating at lower costs, particularly by reducing the price of water.
“We needed a lot of volunteers, students and young people to work in the fields. We acted and helped save the work of farmers and Israeli agriculture at a crucial time,” Abutbul said.
He also worked to defend traditional kosher ritual slaughter (shechita) as it became increasingly controversial in Europe. He organized a conference at the Ministry of Agriculture that brought together rabbis from around the world to discuss the issue and coordinate a response.
Abutbul also highlighted Shas’s work on food security, pointing to the 2024 amendment to the Encouragement of Food Donations Law, which requires public bodies to donate surplus food. The legislation was initiated by fellow Shas lawmaker Yinon Azoulay and Yesh Atid MK Yasmin Fridman.
Welfare, healthcare and education
A member of the Knesset Special Committee for Public Petitions, the Committee on Public Projects until early July 2026, and the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child during the previous government, Abutbul said Shas has consistently represented its voters by advancing welfare, healthcare and education issues.
“Everywhere we have been present, we have made sure to help the public—the Sephardi Haredi public, but not exclusively. Shas is not a niche party; it helps everyone,” Abutbul said.
One of the key issues he hopes will be resolved by the next government, he said, is legislation regulating the enlistment of Haredi men into the military. “We will bring order to that issue and make sure it is resolved. Whoever studies Torah must be allowed to continue studying Torah,” he said.
Earlier this month, Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, temporarily blocked a law freezing the arrest of Haredi yeshivah students who evade military service. The justices intervened one day after the Knesset passed the legislation by a 58–54 vote. The law would have suspended the detention of Haredi yeshivah students until Nov. 30.
In June 2024, the court ruled that ultra-Orthodox men must be conscripted, effectively ending the decades-long system of exemptions.
Beyond the draft issue, Abutbul said Shas will also prioritize lowering the cost of living and assisting families in need, including through stipends. He argued in favor of centralized initiatives, in which buyers combine their purchasing power to reduce costs through bulk purchases.
“There are many ways to lower the cost of living, but we need coalition agreements on how to do it. While increasing competition through imports is possible, it can also cause local factories to close and workers to lose their jobs, which does not really solve the problem. We need to think of creative solutions if we want to succeed,” he told JNS.
On education, Abutbul stressed that many Haredi children are studying in temporary caravan classrooms rather than permanent school buildings.
“We need to build proper classrooms for all of them if we want them to succeed. The Haredi population continues to grow. Every year, we need to build more classrooms, because the existing ones are simply not enough to ensure they receive a proper education,” he said.
