Adina Bar-Shalom, the daughter of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual mentor to the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas, has founded a party of her own and plans to enter her list in the next Knesset election.
The party will be called Ahi Yisraeli (My Israeli Brother) and Bar-Shalom, an educator and social activist, expects to register it with the Party Registrar's Office in the near future. Some of the candidates flagged for its list are expected to include former IDF Spokeswoman Brig. Gen. (res.) Ruth Yaron; entrepreneur and investor Dov Moran; Yeroham Mayor Michael Biton; and media personality Motti Shklar.
At this stage, Bar-Shalom apparently does not intend to serve as a Knesset member should her party cross the electoral threshold.
In May, Bar-Shalom spoke at a conference in Tel Aviv and announced she was putting together her own party that would run in the next Knesset election.
"There is a group that has been established – secular, haredi and [national] religious – who have been working together for two years already. We have time, and we are working on a run for the next Knesset."
Bar-Shalom also expressed her disappointment with the Shas party under Aryeh Deri and said she wished it would "disappear."
Prior to founding her own party, Bar-Shalom had been approached by the Yesh Atid party, as well as asked to join forces with former Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy-Abekasis, who has founded a party of her own.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice on Tuesday was scheduled to hold final deliberations on a petition against the Registrar of Parties and Agudat Israel, which seeks to cancel the article in the Agudat Israel party charter that forbids women from joining the party, and thereby running for a spot on its Knesset list and representing the party in the Knesset.
Although the petition specifically addresses the Agudat Israel charter, none of the haredi parties in Israel have any female MKs.
In October 2016, the High Court ordered the government and the Agudat Israel party to explain why the article in question barring women from the party should not be revoked.
The petition was filed by the nonprofit group Itach – Women Lawyers for Social Justice on behalf of dozens of women's organizations, who argue that the article in the party charter violates women's equality and their basic right to be elected to public office.
Attorney Netta Levi, who is arguing the petition in the High Court, said, "We are calling on the High Court to revoke the article in the Agudat Israel charter that prevents women from joining the party, in effect attacking democracy and the right to equality.
"The fact that the two big haredi parties, which are part of almost every government coalition, do not allow women to be members hurts all women in Israel, since there are fewer women at the table where decisions are made.
"There are many haredi women today who are daring to say, 'We want to represent ourselves,' and they are waiting for support from the High Court that will allow them to do what [should be] taken for granted – be elected, and not just vote," Levi said.
A panel of five judges, led by Chief Justice Esther Hayut, is reviewing the petition.
