Adina Bar Shalom
Adina Bar ShalomFlash 90

Adina Bar-Shalom, Israel Prize laureate and the eldest daughter of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, announced on Thursday that she is supporting Finance Ministers Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party about a month after she withdrew from the election race.

Bar-Shalom explained that she wants to support a party which focuses on socioeconomic issues.

"When my father founded Shas, he established it as a hareidi party - with a goal of strengthening the weaker segments of the population, to take care of their education," Bar-Shalom said in an interview with Radio 103FM.

"There are over 50,000 children in Israel who don't study English and math. My father said that it's a mitzvah (good deed) to give them the opportunity to study. Shas has changed its skin," Bar-Shalom continued. "I don't see myself there. Maybe I'll be pressured when I bring in many Hareidim to vote for Kahlon."

"We knew that the discussion would be either "yes Bibi" or "no Bibi." We speak a completely different discourse on the state of Israeli society. Our social security is no less important than military security. We feel that we don't need to participate in the political discourse that spews hatred," said Bar-Shalom.

Regarding hareidi society, Bar-Shalom said, "I always followed my heart. All segments of society, not just the hareidi sector, don't choose to live in poverty. A mother that can't provide for her child is a mother in distress."

"A woman should make a decent living and bring home a living salary. This is a change that must happen in hareidi society and it's already been happening for over 15 years," Bar-Shalom concluded.