Daughters of Israel Go Out to Vote and Be Elected: Haredi Women's Primaries Launch

The 'Haredi Women's Primaries' project opened for voting, aiming to highlight the lack of representation of Haredi women in the Knesset. Among the candidates: Rabbanit Adina Bar Shalom, Sivan Rahav-Meir, and Esti Shoshan. The site emphasizes that this is not about forming a new party, but a call for existing parties to integrate women.

The 'Haredi Women's Primaries' project opened for voting on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, aiming to highlight the lack of representation of Haredi women in the Knesset in general and in Haredi parties in particular. The site does not reveal who is behind the initiative, but among the candidates, proposed by female users, are veteran activists such as Esti Shoshan, a founder of 'Nivcharot – Haredi Women for Representation, Equality, and Voice', Tali Farkash, Esti Rieder Indursky, Michal Chernovitsky, and Ruth Kolian, who founded the party 'Uv'zchutan'. Other prominent candidates are Rabbanit Adina Bar Shalom, Israel Prize laureate, and Rabbanit Yemima Mizrahi. The list also includes local politicians, media personalities such as Sivan Rahav-Meir, Shari Rot, Dana Batzal, and Efrat Shokron, as well as Torah scholars, academics, and social activists. The site emphasizes that the candidates did not put themselves forward but were recommended by users, and that the goal of the initiative is not to establish a party, but to make existing parties understand that Haredi women want and deserve to represent themselves. The initiators note that major laws for women were enacted by women, and that in a discussion on Haredi women's health in the Knesset committee, no Haredi MK attended. The site refers to a halachic discussion on appointing women to public positions, citing Maimonides' opinion and reservations of chief rabbis. To date, only two Haredi women have served in the Knesset, in non-Haredi parties.