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Haredi Public party to JNS: ‘What is at stake is the future of the country’

Haredi Jewish soldiers from the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade take part in a beret march at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City after completing seven months of basic and advanced training, Aug. 6, 2026. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.
Haredi Jewish soldiers from the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade take part in a beret march at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City after completing seven months of basic and advanced training, Aug. 6, 2026. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.
Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

Israel faces an “existential problem” unless haredi children are taught core subjects and are inducted into national service, the Haredi Public Party told JNS on Monday, a day before the Knesset election.

Nearly 33% of the Jewish state’s first graders are in ultra-Orthodox school systems, the party noted.

Without core curriculum subjects “that can help them earn a viable living,” more than a third of the country will soon be “told what to do by extremists,” it warned.

The party said it is the only one able to bring the change needed to the haredi community, “to take more responsibility for their part in Israel’s future.”

“We aren’t promising to do the change after we get elected; we are the change,” said the party, adding that it represents “tens of thousands of haredim and other Israelis.”

The Haredi Public party is holding parlor meetings on Monday night, and its candidates will be out across the country on Tuesday urging people to vote, it said.

Amelie Botbol is a diplomatic correspondent for JNS. Originally from Casablanca, Morocco, she made aliyah in 2014. Her reporting focuses on major international developments and the Israeli political arena, including weekly coverage from the Knesset. She also produced one of the world’s most extensive bodies of reporting on Israel’s hostage crisis following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks.
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