Shas loses nearly half its seats in Israel election

Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party lost nearly half its seats in the October 27 election, reducing the leverage of a party that has often acted as a coalition kingmaker.

Shas will have six seats in the new parliament, down from 11. The result came as neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot won enough seats for a majority.

Gilad Malach, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute who studies the ultra-Orthodox, said Shas suffered a "crisis of confidence." His analysis found support for Shas fell by 37 percent among the broader working-class Sephardic community and by 22 percent in ultra-Orthodox areas.

Shas was founded in 1984 to represent Sephardic Jews, whose families came to Israel from other Middle Eastern countries or North Africa. Led by Aryeh Deri, it has frequently joined governing coalitions after securing ministerial posts or policy commitments.

The party's support was hurt by disputes over military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Netanyahu allowed the exemption to continue but did not enshrine it in law, while many other Israelis have resented the arrangement during wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Shas left the government in mid-2025 over the failure of legislation on military service exemptions, but returned to Netanyahu's bloc for the election. Malach said the chances of a Shas alliance with Eisenkot remain minimal for now.