Religious Party Gets 3rd Highest Number of Seats In Israel's Election

While the big news out of yesterday's Israeli election is that the Kadimah Party won the most seats in the Knesset (28), less noted was the fact that the party receiving the third highest number of seats (13) was the Sephardic religious party, Shas. (Results from Arutz Sheva.) Earlier this month Ynet News reported on Shas' platform which includes the following:

• Integrating Jewish tradition into the education system. The doctrine guiding the party's platform is that Israel is the Jewish people's state and Jewish identity must be preserved when it comes to decision making, while curbing moves that would see "a country of all its citizens" emerging. The party does not call for a state based on religious law, but rather, "a state with a Jewish soul" where Jewish character is preserved within state laws.
• Every diplomatic question on the agenda has answers in Jewish law. The party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, determines the party's official position. Yosef and other leading rabbis believe territorial compromise is allowed, but only when life is at stake and something is received in return.

In addition to the 13 seats won by Shas, two other religious party slates did reasonably well. The National Union/National Religious Party got 9 seats, and United Torah Judaism won 6 places in the 120-seat Knesset.