Religious Zionism Faces a Defining Election Choice

The article argues that Israel’s coming election will be a turning point, not just over who forms the next government but over the kind of Jewish state that will exist in coming decades. It says the real contest is not mainly about external security or the Palestinian issue, which it claims are no longer deeply divisive after October 7, but about internal social and political threats, especially the growing dependence of an expanding sector on state support.

The piece focuses on the ultra-Orthodox parties, saying their demands for public resources are rising after the failure of legislation regulating yeshiva students’ status, public pressure, funding freezes, and economic distress in the Haredi street. It criticizes laws such as the so-called “Basic Law: Torah Study,” which it says gives constitutional standing to draft avoidance, and the “daycare subsidy law,” which it says incentivizes Haredi men to remain in yeshivas rather than work.

The author says Religious Zionism is decisive in this debate because it embodies a model of Torah combined with work, army service, and state-building. The article cites Jewish tradition and Maimonides to argue that Torah does not replace life and that depending on public charity while avoiding work is a desecration of God’s name. It says the Religious Zionist camp should not continue backing the Netanyahu-Haredi bloc, which it describes as cementing Haredi supremacy as the authentic expression of religious life in Israel.

The article calls for breaking up the Netanyahu-Haredi alliance and warns that another term could create an electoral reality with no way back. It frames the choice for Religious Zionist voters as whether to keep serving as a political safety net for a model it rejects, or return to its own legacy of “Torah and work,” civic responsibility, and Zionism. The piece ends by presenting the election as a historic moment of decision for that camp.