http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/145299 Shas MKs, Likud Lash Out at Yishai-Carter Meeting
(IsraelNN.com) Knesset Members of the Shas party have criticized party chairman and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai for meeting with former American President Jimmy Carter, who visited Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Syria on Friday and Saturday. Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and other government officials refused to talk with Carter.
Likud MKs also lashed out at the Shas chairman, who has been charged with allowing the government to negotiate on the status of Jerusalem despite party promises it would pull out of the coalition if the issue reaches the negotiating table. The minister said he decided to meet with Carter because the party's spiritual leader, former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has told him to carry out the Torah commandment to redeem kidnapped army soldiers, an issue that Carter discussed with Mashaal. Other Torah scholars have said that the commandment would be violated by freeing other terrorists who would try to kidnap more soldiers.