New Ultra-Orthodox Party 'Black Color' Challenges Establishment
Translated & summarized from Kikar HaShabbat by baba
The new Haredi party 'Black Color' released a campaign video arguing it represents hundreds of thousands of unpolled Haredi voters, not just a split from Shas and United Torah Judaism. The party claims seven out of ten of its supporters would not vote if it doesn't run, framing the choice as voting for them or abstaining. Their central platform opposes the IDF draft plan for yeshiva students, seeking to secure political power for their community's issues. The party's emergence is expected to intensify debate as elections near.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- New Haredi party 'Black Color' claims to represent 246,000 unpolled Haredi voters.
- The party states seven out of ten supporters would not vote if it doesn't run.
- 'Black Color' opposes the IDF draft plan for yeshiva students.
- The campaign argues a new Haredi party can expand representation, not just split votes.
- Established Haredi parties warn 'Black Color' could cause vote splitting and failure to pass the electoral threshold.
The new ultra-Orthodox party, 'Black Color' (Tzeva Shahor), has released a campaign video aiming to reshape the narrative around the division of Haredi political power. Instead of focusing on how many votes the party might take from established factions like Shas and United Torah Judaism, the video highlights hundreds of thousands of potential Haredi voters currently unrepresented in polls. The campaign asserts that while the Haredi voting population has grown to approximately 730,000 eligible voters, Shas and United Torah Judaism together are polling at only around 15 Knesset seats, a decrease from the previous Knesset. A key statistic presented is that roughly 246,000 Haredi individuals are not reflected in current poll data for Shas and United Torah Judaism. These individuals may have shifted to other parties, belong to communities not participating in elections, or simply not vote. 'Black Color' claims that seven out of ten of its supporters would not vote if the party does not run, suggesting their choice is between voting for the new list or abstaining, rather than switching to established parties.
The campaign video presents scenarios where Shas and United Torah Judaism together secure 15 seats, with 'Black Color' adding four for a total of 19 Haredi seats, or alternatively, 16 seats for the established parties and five for 'Black Color', totaling 21 Haredi seats. To support its argument, the video references the 1980s founding of Shas, recalling similar concerns about a new Haredi party splitting the vote, but ultimately arguing that Shas expanded Haredi representation and brought new communities into politics.
The central message behind 'Black Color's' calculations is its opposition to the IDF draft plan for yeshiva students. The party contends that the right to study Torah should not be limited by quotas and that political power is needed to fully regulate the status of yeshiva students. The campaign also criticizes the idea of transferring Haredi votes to the Otzma Yehudit party, referencing its stances on Haredi integration into national service. The campaign seeks to present Haredi voters with a choice between parties with broader agendas and a list that prioritizes the yeshiva world's issues. The debate surrounding 'Black Color' is expected to intensify as election day approaches, with established parties warning of vote splitting and the new party aiming to demonstrate that its absence would lead to widespread voter abstention.
