New Haredi Party Revives Historic Helicopter Flyer Campaign Ahead of Primaries

Ahead of the upcoming primaries, the newly launched Haredi party "HaKahal" deployed a special helicopter to distribute flyers over Haredi communities across Israel. This aerial campaign commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Haredi representation primaries held in 1976. The party leaders emphasized that no boycott or attempt to silence them would prevent their message from reaching the public.

HaKahal, founded about two weeks ago by Haredi activists from Hasidic, Sephardic, and Lithuanian backgrounds, proposes selecting its Knesset representatives through primaries based on party members’ votes, aiming to better reflect the community’s desires. The helicopter campaign echoes a similar move by Rabbi Menachem Porush in 1976, who hired a helicopter to spread his message after facing a media boycott by the mainstream Haredi press.

Due to recent decisions by Haredi media outlets to block HaKahal’s advertisements, the party revived this bold tactic. The helicopter took off from a helipad in Rishon Lezion, scattering hundreds of thousands of colorful flyers over Haredi neighborhoods, drawing many residents to watch from streets and balconies.

Before the flight, HaKahal chairman Rabbi Shlomo Elboim declared to the attending media that history was repeating itself. He stressed that attempts to silence the party would fail and that the Haredi public, deprived of proper representation, would make its voice heard loudly and fearlessly. He cited Rabbi Porush’s success in overcoming the 1976 boycott as a precedent for their current campaign. The upcoming primaries are viewed by HaKahal as a celebration for the Haredi community, which they say is eager for their message.