United Torah Judaism: what they've published

Intro

0:00United Torah Judaism has no written platform for this election. What it has published is a short slogan on a campaign ad, the right to be Haredi, next to the letter Gimel. This is Close Read, and this is a series about what Israel's parties are promising to do in their own published words for

About this series

0:17English-speaking voters ahead of the October 27th election. One party per episode. I only use the party itself as made public. Their platform, their website, their official accounts, and on-the-record statements by their leaders. If they didn't publish it, it doesn't count. And if they publish nothing, that's the episode. United Torah Judaism runs under the letter Gimel, officially as United Torah Judaism and Shabbat, Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah,

Who they are

0:47headed by Yaakov Asher of Degel HaTorah. The list was submitted by three parties this time, Degel HaTorah, Agudat Yisrael, and a third party, Chomat Torah Yisrael. I looked for a platform, the Hebrew word for a platform is matzah, and I didn't find one.

What they've published

1:04The party has no website that I could find. Its verified Facebook page describes it in one line, legislation, society, and welfare, protecting what matters to the people of Israel. The newest post I could see on that page without logging in is from November 2022. The party's ex-account logged out showed nothing newer than April 2024. What the party did publish is a campaign ad with the slogan, It ran on the front page of Yated Ne'eman, the daily newspaper affiliated with Degel HaTorah, on September 25th. That same front page announced the campaign launch and listed three focus areas. I'm treating that front page as close to an official statement because of the party's ties to the paper, but it is a newspaper item and not a party document.

1:54For anything more detailed, I used two public interviews with Yaakov Asher from August and early September. One thing to know, he gave both interviews before he was named head of the list. Both videos are linked in the description with timestamps for every quote that I used. I could not find a published position on Gaza, on Lebanon, on Iran, on the

Security and foreign policy

2:16Palestinians, or on foreign relations. On a state commission of inquiry for October 7th, I found nothing published.

October 7, Economy

2:27The campaign lists quote the war on the cost of living, end quote, as one of its three focus areas. It doesn't name a specific measure. In the August interview, Asher said, He also said he does not tell full-time Torah students to go to work. And then a man who doesn't become a Torah scholar, quote, needs to make a living, end quote. The housing crisis is another of the three focus areas. Asher went into the most detail on this one.

Housing

3:02In the August interview, he said the state's job is to reduce regulation, shorten approval processes, and bring down land prices to lower the cost of building. He called Israel's planning and building laws cumbersome, and said he cut the planning laws by at least 80%. He said the housing crisis ends when supply catches up a demand. He also described what he called his dream, the state allocating land to local authorities to build Haredi neighborhoods in cities across the country. He said sending Haredim to new towns like Kassif in the Negev cannot be the whole answer. Now, this next area is the center of the campaign. The first focus area is, quote, regulating the status of Torah students, end quote.

Religion and state

3:47In Haredi political language, that phrase refers to a law that keeps full-time yeshiva students deferral from military service. The second focus area is, quote, preserving the Jewish character of the state, without detail on which laws that cover. On the draft itself, Asher said at the September 2nd conference that a law affecting a million and a half people can't pass by force and needs agreement, dialogue, and a gradual process. Quote, He said anyone who wants to study Torah full-time should be able to. He also said his side had proposed a civilian security track, giving the example of guard duty in the prison service, and that the other side turned it down. At the same September 2nd conference, asked whether he supports writing the values of the Declaration of Independence into a basic

Judiciary and governance

4:41law, Asher said he's against it, because the only interpreters of a basic law, quote, are 15 people, meaning the Supreme Court's justices. On the police, he said officers need backing, and the police should be kept, quote, as non-political as possible, end quote. Their Facebook page named Society and Welfare as an area of work, but I couldn't find a published position on welfare, pensions, or the elderly. In an August interview, Asher said he had supported state-led building in Arab towns, with a dedicated government department for it. At the September conference, asked about crime, he said, quote, a great deal of blame also lies with the Arab community and its leaders.

5:36I couldn't find a published position on immigration, absorption, or the diaspora. On the environment, on energy, or on the

Education, Environment: no stated position

5:44topic of transportation, I found nothing published. The slogan, the right to be Haredi, the Yated Neaman front page said the message

What they put front and center

5:55was chosen because of what it called, quote, the denial of rights and, quote, the persecution of the Haredi public. There is no written platform. I found no published position on September on security, October 7th, education, health,

What's missing

6:13welfare, immigration, or the environment. The cost of living in the Jewish character of the state, appear as goals without details. What detail there is, is on the draft, on housing, and the courts come from the leaders' interviews, and not from a party document. That's what United Toward Judaism has put in writing as of this recording. Every source I use is linked in the description, most of them in Hebrew, so you can read them yourself. If they publish more before October 27th, I'll do my best to pin an update in the comments. Next is list number 38, the last list running for elections, Noam L'Yisrael, and the full playlist is linked below. The Close Read is free to watch and to listen, and if you'd like to support it, you'll find me on Patreon at patreon.com slash theclosedread, linked in the description.