Moti Leitner
Deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh and a former computer engineer, Moti Leitner founded the Haredi Public party in August 2026 after failing to secure representation within Shas or United Torah Judaism. He presents himself as the voice of working Haredim in his first run for the Knesset.
- Ideology
- Haredi, pragmatic stance on national service
- Current role
- Founder and chairman of the Haredi Public party; deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh
Key takeaways
- 01
He is deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh and a former software engineer, from a Rahmastrivka Hasidic family.
- 02
He had unsuccessfully sought a place within Shas or UTJ before founding his own party.
- 03
He founded the Haredi Public party in August 2026, presenting himself as the voice of working Haredim.
- 04
He calls for a mandatory core school curriculum and military or national service for Haredim who do not study full-time in yeshiva.
- 05
Support for his party rose close to the electoral threshold in early September 2026, before falling back below that threshold in early October, when the question of withdrawing from the race arose internally.
Controversies
He accused UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf of treating detachment from the war effort as “a policy, not a mistake,” after seeing him dance to an anti-Zionist song while soldiers were dying in combat.
He publicly accused Shas of having become “a branch of the Jerusalem Faction’s henchmen,” an allegation that received no public response from Shas.
He claims to have faced unspecified “threats and violence” while building his political career in Beit Shemesh, without providing verifiable details.
Media coverage of him remains limited and almost entirely in Hebrew, and some biographical details, such as his exact year of birth, could not be independently verified.
Moti Leitner was raised in Jerusalem in a Rahmastrivka Hasidic family. He studied Torah in Beitar Illit before completing his matriculation exams and training in software engineering, then worked as a developer at a technology company in the Haredi sector. In Beit Shemesh, he founded two schools, one for boys and one for girls, and co-founded the municipal list “Derech” (“The Way”), which won two seats on the municipal council and led to his becoming deputy mayor.
After failing to secure a place within Shas or United Torah Judaism, he launched the Haredi Public party in August 2026 as an independent list, with five businessmen, including Efi Skadi and Yair Shamir, who guaranteed more than one million shekels for the campaign.
At the official launch in Beit Shemesh on August 23, under the slogan “This time, we are taking responsibility,” he accused the existing Haredi leadership of “detachment and stupidity,” citing UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf dancing to an anti-Zionist song while soldiers were dying in combat as evidence that “it was not a mistake, it was a policy.”
His platform advocates a mandatory core school curriculum and military or national service for the approximately 80,000 eligible young Haredim who do not study full-time in yeshiva, through incentives rather than sanctions; he stated that he would join a Netanyahu-led coalition if elected.
He publicly accused Shas of having become “a branch of the Jerusalem Faction’s henchmen” and claimed to have faced unspecified “threats and violence” while building his political career, allegations that received no public response from Shas or UTJ.
His candidate list was officially submitted to the Knesset on September 8, 2026.
Support for the party rose after its launch to around 1.2–1.5% in Channel 12 polls in early September – close to the electoral threshold – before falling back below 0.5% in early October, reviving internal discussion of withdrawing from the race; the party denied any such plans, stating that it would “go all the way.”
Moti Leitner grew up in Jerusalem in a Rahmastrivka Hasidic family. He studied Torah in Beitar Illit. He then passed his matriculation exams and trained as a software engineer - an unusual path for a Haredi man from his background. He later worked as a developer at a technology company in the Haredi sector.
In Beit Shemesh, he founded two schools, one for boys and one for girls. He then co-founded the municipal list "Derech" ("The Way"), with the slogan "Residents for residents." The list won two seats on the city council, and Leitner became deputy mayor, a post he still holds.
Before running on his own, Leitner had tried to get a place in Shas or United Torah Judaism (UTJ). When these efforts failed, he announced the launch of The Haredi Public party as an independent list in August 2026. On August 10, 2026, five businessmen, including Efi Skadi and Yair Shamir, guaranteed more than one million shekels for his campaign.
He held his official launch event on August 23, 2026, in Beit Shemesh, in an underground space beneath a Hasidic synagogue. Attendance was kept small to avoid trouble. Under the slogan "This time, we take responsibility," he accused the leaders of Shas and UTJ of "detachment and stupidity." As an example, he pointed to UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, who was seen dancing to an anti-Zionist song while soldiers were dying in combat. "That was not a mistake, it was a policy," he said.
His platform calls for a mandatory core curriculum (math, English) in Haredi schools. It also calls for military or national service - through incentives rather than sanctions - for the roughly 80,000 eligible young Haredim who are not full-time yeshiva students. He says he wants to keep the option for serious full-time students to continue their Talmud studies. He has said he would join a coalition led by Netanyahu if elected.
Leitner has publicly accused Shas of becoming "an outpost of the Jerusalem Faction's henchmen." He says he faced "threats and violence" while building his political career in Beit Shemesh, but he gave no specific details. His list of candidates was officially filed with the Central Elections Committee on September 8, 2026.
On September 1, 2026, a Channel 12 poll gave his party 1.2% in the base scenario, and up to 1.5% if Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin joined forces. That is close to two Knesset seats. It was seen as a surprising result for an independent Haredi list launched only a week earlier, and it raised the question of whether Moshe Gafni and Aryeh Deri should be worried.
But by October 4, 2026, three weeks before the vote, the party's polling had fallen below 0.5%, with no projected seats. At an internal meeting, the option of withdrawing from the race was raised for the first time. No decision had been made at that stage; a final decision is expected about a week before election day. When contacted, the party leadership said: "The Haredi Public party will run until the end, and with God's help will achieve a tremendous victory."