Deri Reportedly to Return to Shas Next Week
Shas head resigned Tuesday amid recording scandal, now to return in PR ploy; tells supporters in protest tent 'we'll continue together.'
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services
6
By Ari Yashar
First Publish: 1/1/2015, 10:57 PM
Aryeh DeriYonatan Sindel/Flash 90
Shas chairperson Aryeh Deri handed in his resignation to the Knesset on Tuesday after recordings revealed Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt''l strongly condemned and opposed him - it now appears he will return to Shas as early as next week.
Channel 10 reports it has received information that Deri plans next week to announce his return as chairperson, after having gained strong words of backing from a large number of Shas rabbis and MKs who threatened to quit with him.
The move is in fact not such a surprise, with many political experts having reasoned that his resignation was a well-crafted PR ploy to gain backing and be reinstated by the Council of Torah Sages, in a desperate attempt to minimize the damage.
In the recordings, Rabbi Yosef was seen in private meetings condemning Deri for his corruption that had him jailed in 1999 and explaining he didn't want to reappoint him as head of Shas in place of Eli Yishai - and even going as far as to refer to him as "evil."
Another recording revealed that Deri and not Rabbi Yosef was responsible for Shas's shift to the left and support for the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Since Deri stepped down this week, there has been a protest tent established in front of his home in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, with hundreds of hareidi yeshiva students who are members of Shas calling on Deri to return.
Deri on Thursday was in the north of the country with his wife, but delivered a message via telephone to his supporters in the protest tent.
"Your cry reaches the north. I love you all and promise you: I didn't forget what Maran (Rabbi Yosef) said before he passed away in the hospital: 'Aryeh, I ask that you continue to take care of the children of the poor and the needy," said Deri.
"We will all continue together, I'm with you," said Deri, asking the yeshiva students to return to their studies and not to stay outside his home in the cold. "I ask that tonight you close the tent and return to the yeshivas to study Torah."
"Darkest point in history of Shas"
Former Shas minister Shlomo Benizri commented on the seriousness of Shas's situation given the leaked recordings and Deri's stepping down.
Benizri labeled it "one of the darkest points in the history of the party. There were difficult periods in the past but I think that currently the existence of Shas is in the largest danger ever."
The current crisis comes after former Shas minister Eli Yishai decided to leave the party over tensions with Deri, and formed his Yachad - Ha'am Itanu party. After being publicly attacked by Deri, Yishai warned he had recordings that could greatly harm Deri and would use them if pushed, but has denied that he published the recently leaked recordings.
Speaking about the conflict between Yishai and Deri, Benizri noted "the moment two leaders clash the voters flee to all sorts of places, and we see that in the polls." Polls have shown varied results, with Ha'am Itanu roughly splitting the power of Shas, and both parties shown not making it past the threshold percentage in some polls.
Yishai has warned that he has even more incriminating recordings that would harm Deri, but that he doesn't not intend to use them - unless Deri continues to breach the agreement between them not to attack each other.
While there has been a large push in Shas to call for Deri's return, MK Nissim Ze'ev of the party said "we are not dependent on Aryeh Deri, but only on our rabbis. Shas is not dependent on any political personalities. We are not like other parties. Of course we are sorry that he resigned and we are working to bring him back."
Topic: Surprise Surprise!!!!!!! (Read 690 times)