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to serve the Dati constituency, and to keep the NRP alive. The members feared that becoming
a one-issue party would destroy the NRP. The party split, and after a complex series of partner-
ships with other small right-wing parties, it disappeared completely in 2009.
Agudat Israel (United Torah Judaism)
Agudat Israel represents the Haredim, themselves a very diverse group. Large segments of the
community have moved from a historically anti-Zionist stance to a non-Zionist one. They
participate in the Israeli political system and run as candidates in every election. In deference
to their position that divine law supersedes state law, MKs will take posts only as deputy min-
isters and not as full ministers to avoid participating in cabinet meetings.
Agudat Israel represents a merger of two distinctive Haredi groups: the Hasidim and the
Mitnagdim (often in Israel called Lithuanians, after the place of the movement's origin). The
party is controlled by the Council of Sages, a committee of senior rabbis, who choose the can-
didates and decide on the party's positions. The party is not interested in gathering support
outside its own sector. It is mostly concerned with practical issues that affect its constituents —
namely, government subsidies to large families, funding for its own school system and other
institutions, opposition to mandatory military service for Haredi men, and preserving (or
slightly altering in its favor) the status quo.
Agudat Israel ran in its current form for the fi rst time in 1992 and stayed in government for
most of that decade. When Barak went to Camp David to negotiate with Yasir Arafat in 2000,
Agudat Israel left the government out of fear that Barak might agree to divide Jerusalem —
despite the fact that the party itself does not take a position on Zionist issues such as land
concessions. When the Agudat Israel has not been in government, as in 2003, child subsi-
dies and education allocations — two of their top-priority issues, given the large size of Haredi
families —have been greatly reduced.
Since its support is often valuable for maintaining a coalition majority, the party has some-
times wielded more leverage than its small number of seats (between four and six) suggests.
The party likes to control the Housing Ministry and the Knesset Finance Committee, which
allocate funds to Haredi educational institutions. At the same time, Agudat Israel has a great
deal to lose by walking out of governments, and demographic shifts have made it less powerful
in Israel though more powerful in Jerusalem's municipal government.
Shas
Shas (an acronym for the Hebrew name, Sephardic Guardians of the Torah) emerged as a
party in 1984 when Agudat Israel refused to place more Mizrahi candidates on its list. The
Sephardic chief rabbi, Ovadia Yosef, formed his own political party in protest, serving as its
spiritual leader and selecting its candidates. Shas works to uphold the religious status quo and
to obtain fi nancing and jobs for its supporters.
Most Shas voters are from the poorest Mizrahi sector; they often identify with traditional
Judaism but are not necessarily religious by Orthodox standards. This practical consideration
has two effects on Shas. One is pragmatism. Shas realized that fl exibility on national security
issues would give it an advantage over the staunchly nationalist NRP, even if its constituents
