He wants the party to take nothing: he said in May 2026 that after the elections the Haredi parties must accept no positions - no ministers, nothing at all - until yeshiva students' status is settled.
Who they are
Meir Porush is the Jerusalem and Jewish tradition minister and leads the Shlomei Emunim faction inside Agudat Yisrael. He was born in Jerusalem in 1955 to Bracha, née Pakscher, and Menachem Porush, who sat in the Knesset for Agudat Yisrael for 37 years. He studied at the Etz Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem and then at the Slabodka yeshiva in Bnei Brak, and at twenty-five did four months of compulsory service as a religious NCO at Schneller camp. He founded the newspaper HaMevaser with his father and ran Agudat Yisrael’s Jerusalem offices.
He stood for mayor of Jerusalem in 1983 and took a council seat instead, sitting first in the municipal opposition and then, for seven years, as deputy mayor for city improvement and ultra-Orthodox education. He took the top place on the United Torah Judaism list in 1996, in effect replacing his father, and served twice as deputy housing minister and twice as deputy education minister. He lost the 2008 mayoral race to Nir Barkat. In the 37th government he was also given charge of the Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai celebration at Mount Meron.
Police recommended charging him with breach of privacy, fraud and breach of trust over approaches he was suspected of making, as deputy housing minister, to people receiving housing aid before the 1999 election. The prosecution closed the file, citing doubts about intent.
Positions and record
Jerusalem: Haredi housing in the capital.
Meron: Control of the pilgrimage site.
Tradition: The Hasidic seat by dynastic agreement.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.