A year ago, MK (Shas) Moshe Abutbul was in the heart of the Beit Shemesh mayoral campaign. He was the incumbent in that race, losing however to the dati leumi challenger and current mayor, Dr. Aliza Bloch.

Many believed that Abutbul would be a member of the Shas team in the 21st Knesset, but the party failed to earn a sufficient number of seats for this to occur. However, in the most recent election, in September 2019, Shas earned nine seats and Abutbul now finds himself in Knesset, the one and only new chareidi MK in this Knesset.

In fact, former Yahadut Hatorah MK Yitzchak Pindrus was ousted from Knesset, only serving a few months in the 21st Knesset. Yahadut Hatorah only earned seven seats in the election for 22nd Knesset, not eight as was first believed. When the final tabulation of votes was announced, the eighth Yahadut Hatorah seat went to the Likud party and Pindrus realized he would not be serving in the incoming Knesset.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)