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Yishai Likely to Resign from Knesset: Shas on the Verge of Collapse


yishA meeting planned for Sunday, 22 Kislev, between Shas party leader Aryeh Deri and former party leader Eli Yishai was canceled by the order of HaGaon HaRav Shimon Ba’adani Shlita.

Following the meeting between Yishai and Rav Ba’adani, it was clear to the rav, who is a member of the Shas Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael, that Yishai was not going to comply with Deri’s demands. Rabbi Ba’adani responded by instructing Deri to cancel the planned meeting on Sunday. Deri’s demands include Yishai giving him an undated letter or resignation which Deri can use if and when he sees fit and 2; Yishai accepting that he may not speak with the media without first obtaining permission from Deri.

Persons close to Yishai feel that the former party leader, who has been aligned with Shas for 30 years, will be resigning from Shas and the Knesset. Others speculate Yishai will leave and form his own party or find his new political home aligning with another party.

Rav Ba’adani has instructed party officials to refrain from discussing the Yishai matter and not to speak to the media about it, stating Moetzas Gedolei Hatorah will deal with the matter exclusively, no one else.

Polls show that Shas would lose even more seats if Deri runs without Eli Yishai and yet another poll shows that Yishai teaming up with Uri Ariel’s Tekuma faction would result in that alignment earning seven seats. There is pressure being exerted on Naftali Bennett to close a deal with Ariel to present to prevent Bayit Yehudi from splitting and to prevent Ariel from aligning with Yishai.

There is speculation that if Yishai aligns with Ariel and others, despite his popularity and the fact he is breaking from Shas and is not being ousted, he may be viewed by some as following in the footsteps of Chaim Amsellem.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)



9 Responses

  1. “”…he may be viewed by some as following in the footsteps of Chaim Amsellem.””

    He won’t be. Yishai never ever attacked Maran Harav Ovadia zt”l (as did amasalem) and Yishai has rabbanim backing him. He also has a larger popularity among Sefaradim than Deri.

  2. As long as both halves pass the threshold (which may require a joint list with some other party, which is quite reasonable). Shas lost some voters because of its non-zionist (anti-conscription) views, and it also lost some voters because it wasn’t hareidi enough. With a split, both groups will have a party to support.

  3. Mr. Amsellem was a joke who had no base. Shas made Amsellem into anything. He was a nobody before Shas made him an MK and he became a nobody again after he attacked Chacham Ovadia and left Shas.

  4. Deri’s terms are completely unreasonable by any sane person’s standards it is the equivalent of expelling him from the party altogether. In addition it is sad that grown men can’t act mature and equitably with one another and instead insist on acting immature and infantile to the detriment of the entire chareidie tzibur in Israel

  5. #1 & #4 This unpopular battle versus Amsellem is finding success finally

    It is good that people are finally coming round to taking Amsellem for what he is.

    Although there still are few sly knaves or fools such as:

    RabbiYoni says:
    December 3, 2014 at 10:28 pm
    May Hashem bless him with success! A true Talmid Chacham and a man with a vision for the State of Israel.

    THIS despite:

    Amsellem Addresses Shabbos Bus Service in Israel

    (Friday, December 14th, 2012)
    While Am Shalem Party leader Rabbi Chaim Amsellem continues to express optimism….
    The rabbi addressed many issues including bus service in Israel on shabbos, explaining that “We live in a Jewish democratic nation, and the two do not always complement one another.” He added that in Haifa buses run while in Tel Aviv they don’t, “the status quo as if a voice came down from Shomayim and ordered the current situation.”

    “Obviously I cannot be joyous, but I will fight their battle” towards bus service in Tel Aviv on shabbos..

    Amsellem Defends Ephraim Halevy’s Comments Against Chareidim

    (Tuesday, November 15th, 2011)
    MK Rav Chaim Amsellem faced off against journalist Avishai Ben-Chaim of Channel 10 regarding the recent remarks made against the chareidi tzibur by former Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy. In a surprise move, the chareidi MK supported Halevy, blaming the chareidi community for becoming too fanatic. Amsellem has become an outspoken advocate for moderation in the chareidi community in Eretz Yisrael.

    In his remarks. Halevy stated the chareidim pose a bigger threat to Israel than Iran….

  6. Re: #4 Mr UJM – You are an AM HA’ARETZ. You talk like you know Rav Haim Amsellem, like old school chums – WRONG!! Unlike your lonesome self, Rav Haim Amsellem received s’micha from none other than Chacham Ovadia, ztk”l in 1980 when he was Chief Rabbi. Rav Amsellen also was a city rabbi which gave him more credentials. He is also a talmid chacham and has authored numerous seforim all highly recognized. You – UJM- are a ZERO!!! Rav Amsellem, if you bothered to read, was aligned with HaRav HaGaon Rav Meir Mazuz, shlita. It was Yishai that would travel up daily way before dawn so that he could pray at the vatikin minyan of Rav Mazuz. Rav Mazuz also gave Yishai counseling and specifically gave Yishai instructions to bring Rav Amsellem into the Shas enclave. Rav Mazuz, knew that Deri was a snake. Did you know all of this considering all the hot air you’ve been blowing? Highly doubtful. Yishai also was flying high and didn’t want to share his perch with Rav Amsellem and so he never brought him into Shas. [UJM: Before you opened your big mouth and inserted your foot, you should’ve done some basic research.]

    Rav Ovadia had a soft spot in his heart and he became very embittered and cried when Deri was imprisoned. The Rav said that Deri was an honest person and never did anything wrong and only wanted to help educational institutions. Partial truths which later were found out to be quite a bit different. Deri had embezzled government funds and misdirected them and he deserved to go to prison. Highly unlikely that you’ve ever played a violin but, if you tune it just right you can make it sound like someone is crying and that is what Deri did while he was in prison he cried and the cries went back to Rav Ovadia, ztk”l and made him physically sick. [Did you know that?] Deri also had an ally in the Rav’s house as well. Rabbanit Yehudit Yosef, Moshe Yosef’s wife, as Moroccans stick together and subliminally things were said to the Rav.

    Yishai is a very likable individual with no airs and is NOT a faker like Deri. Where Yishai leans right and doesn’t want to compromise on religious values, Deri was involved in a number of government slipshod agreements including the Gush Katif fiasco. Yishai never said to anyone in Shas it is either my way or the highway. Deri on the other had says we are offering him a bone and if he’s smart he’ll take it. Deri the scoudrel also wanted an undated letter from Yishai stating that if he was a bad boy he would be kicked out of Shas. These are games that are played in high school not in governmental politics.

    The comments that were “supposedly” made by Rav Amsellen to Chacham Ovadia, ztk”l were misconstrued and you read it mostly like in some rag but you didn’t hear it from anyone that heard it. That’s called ‘heresay’ and NOT fact. Anything that Rav Amsellem said to Chacham Ovadia for sure, had been previously discussed with Rav Amsellem’s poskim.

  7. #3
    Leave the Satan out of this machlokes- it is human made, bred & can be ended by humans too. Why give the Satan undue power?

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