Maale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who also serves as the Likud representative in the Union of Local Governments sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu requesting the Interior Ministry remain in Likud’s control in the 20th Knesset. Well aware the Shas party is vying for the portfolio, Kashriel preempted with a letter signed by mayors who do not want to see Deri back in the Interior Ministry.
Only Kashriel’s signature appears on the letter, but he insists he represents eight mayors.
The Union of Local Authorities has circulated a petition which has already been signed by thousands of citizens stating after his conviction for fraud they do not feel Deri is suited to return to his former post. The petition points out that he abused his powerful cabinet position to defraud millions of shekels and therefore he should not return despite having served a jail term and waited the allotted time for the moral turpitude clause to lapse, seven additional years after his release from prison.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Deri (meaning Shas) should focus less on patronage than on issues, and in particular, seeing that yeshiva students aren’t drafted. They can easily be replaced by Yesh Atid if they get too demanding (on the other hand, Yesh Atid is also demanding, which works to Shas’s benefit).