She criticized the structure of Israel's education system, arguing that the government has ceded too much responsibility for decisions affecting students to bodies outside the public sector.
Israel has "abandoned" its haredi students by allowing decisions about education to be made outside the public sector, former Beit Shemesh mayor and Unity Party member Aliza Bloch told The Jerusalem Post, arguing that reforming the education system must begin in kindergarten.
Bloch, an educator who recently joined former UN ambassador Gilad Erdan and MK Yuli Edelstein's new Unity Party, said the education system requires better teachers, greater professional authority for principals and more respect for educators.
"I want to be involved in education, of course, because I believe that most of our problems in Israel begin in kindergarten, in the classroom and in the school," Bloch said.
She also criticized the structure of Israel's education system, arguing that the government has ceded too much responsibility for decisions affecting students to bodies outside the public sector.
"I have to say that we've abandoned the haredi students because many of the decisions in their education are not made by the public sector," she said.
For Bloch, education and conscription cannot be separated. She argued that the state cannot wait until young people reach 18 to ask them to take responsibility for the country if they have not previously been given the opportunity to understand Israeli society and their place within it.
"From kindergarten, students need to learn about Israel. They need to feel that they are part of society and that they need to take responsibility for our lives," she said.
"When they reach 18, we tell them they need to go to the army, but they don't know enough about our society."
Bloch said that changing this would require starting much earlier.
"If we want to make a change, we need to work from kindergarten, to give them the option to learn about Israel, to feel that they are part of the society, to feel that they need to take responsibility about our life," she said.
She argued that young Israelis should not be able to reach adulthood without a basic sense of civic responsibility.
Bloch's stance on education reflects a broader political philosophy that Bloch said she developed during her time as mayor of Beit Shemesh, a city she described as one of Israel's most diverse.
"I believe that living with different people makes us better people," she said. "When I was mayor, all of my work was about helping people live together and respect everyone. It doesn't matter if you are secular, Orthodox, or Modern Orthodox. Everybody is a person."
Her experience governing the city also shaped her belief that political cooperation between groups with sharply different views is possible.
"We don't need to agree on everything, but we must respect everyone," she said.
That belief now forms the basis of Bloch's argument for a broad Zionist government, rather than another narrow coalition dependent on small political factions.
The Unity Party was launched earlier this month by Erdan and Edelstein as a new right-wing political framework committed to universal military service and a broad coalition rather than a narrow bloc government. Erdan and Edelstein have presented the party as an alternative for right-wing voters dissatisfied with the existing political camps. The party was formally launched in early August.
"I think Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein are examples of people who have values and work according to their values," she said.
Asked about potential coalition partners, Bloch tied her red lines directly to national service and support for the state.
"If the government sends my son to the army, it must be that all of their children go to the army as well," she said.
"I can't sit with people who support Hamas or who don't understand that serving in the army is not a question of whether I want to or don't want to. It is a responsibility for everybody."
Bloch did not rule out sitting in a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the identity of the prime minister was less important to her than the composition and mandate of the government.
"For me, it's not important who will be the prime minister. I believe that we must build a very broad government," she said.
"After the war, our society needs a very broad government to take responsibility and make changes in education, the economy and the army."
For Bloch, a broad coalition is not simply one possible political arrangement.
"It's not an option. It's a must," she said.
"We are after several very difficult years, and we saw what happened with a narrow government. A narrow government can't do anything in Israel."
She argued that the need for a broad government that is willing to compromise has become more urgent following the war, as Israel attempts to rebuild trust between communities that have become increasingly divided.
"I think compromise makes you stronger. I believe all the citizens of Israel want it because we are very tired. We are tired of the conflict," Bloch said.
"Being prime minister is very important, but building our society is more important."
Bloch's call for cooperation extends beyond the political system to Israel's security challenges.
On Gaza, she avoided proposing a detailed political arrangement, instead saying that the central test of any postwar policy should be whether Israelis can live safely.
"For me, the end of this story is that our citizens must feel safe," she said. "We can't give them a situation where every day they are afraid to live there."
She said the same principle applies to the North and to the country as a whole.
"We have a very strong army and a strong citizenry. After the war, we must give people security," she said. "For me, this is very important in the North, in Gaza and in all the country."
Ultimately, Bloch said, the cooperation Israelis have demonstrated during wartime needs to become part of everyday life.
"We learned that in the army. Our children work together in Gaza. Now we must learn to live together here in Israel, in peace, not in war," she said.
"In war, we know how to do it. Now we must learn to do it here in our life, in education, in economy, in politics, in all the subjects."