Moshe Gafni

משה גפני

Chairman of UTJ and leader of Degel HaTorah faction (former Chair of Finance Committee, until July 2025)

Veteran Lithuanian-Haredi rabbi and politician, longtime leader of Degel HaTorah within UTJ and a leading parliamentary voice for the Torah world.

Positions and record

Senior Lithuanian-Haredi statesman; first entered the Knesset in 1988 on the Degel HaTorah list
Chairman of United Torah Judaism and longtime leader of the Degel HaTorah faction
Chaired the Knesset Finance Committee multiple times (most recently 2022-2025), shepherding state budgets through a turbulent wartime period before resigning in July 2025 when UTJ left the coalition over the yeshiva-student conscription dispute
Leading advocate for state recognition and funding of Lithuanian yeshivas, framing Torah study as a foundational contribution to Israel's national life and security
Sponsored Basic-Law legislation seeking to enshrine Torah study as a core value of the State of Israel alongside military service
Principled critic of Supreme Court intervention in religion-state matters, defending the Knesset's authority to legislate on Haredi communal life
His Bnei Brak-area home was damaged in an Iranian missile strike during the June 2025 Israel-Iran exchange

Moshe Gafni, The State of Israel. https://thestateofisrael.com/mk/moshe-gafni