I wonder what the rabbi would say when I question him about his illegal bribery scandals, shlomo ben iszri sitting in jail, aryeh deri, supporting oslo, enabling the destruction of the federman house, throwing chaim ben pesach out of israel, enabling the amona massacre etc........
Will he tell me that it was all ok because he pocketed a few sheckels for his institutions?
1. Supporting Oslo.
Judaism says that we are obliged to save lives. Saving lives puts on hold ALL commanments (excluding idolatry, adultery and murder), including the commandment to settle the Land of Israel. It is now clear to us that "peace" agreements not save but, on the contrary, take lives of the Jews. But it became clear in late 90-ies with the increase of terror attacks. Before Oslo agreement, it was clear only to defense experts. Rabbi Ovadya Yosef is not a military/intelligence expert, neither he is a prophet. He made his decision based on the information he had. So Bolshevik establishment who poisoned all the country with the lies is to blame, not Rabbi Ovadya.
After the truth became clear, Rabbi Ovadya did never support further retreats. He ordered Shas MK's to vote against the withdrawal from Gaza.
2. Conviction of Deri and Ben Izri.
Who convicted them? Sodomist Bolshevik Israeli courts. I don't know whether the charges against them are a complete lie or exaggeration, but you should never trust Israeli courts when their desicions are against religious or nationalist people. The same courts detained 14-17 years old Israeli settler girls for several weeks without any charge.
3. Destruction of the Federman house, throwing Chaim ben Pesach out of Israel, enabling the Amona massacre..
Rabbi Ovadya is not an almighty tsar. Even if Shas party sits in a goverment, it doesn't mean it can do what it wishes. You must understand that Israel is ruled by Leftist Elite. So if they apply all their power to do something, it is very hard to stop them. Chaim ben Pesach is a very dangerous threat to them so even if the Interior minister had allowed him to enter Israel, they would find the way to block it (the easiest way is to appeal to Supreme Court, you now who are its judges).
I saw somebody said in this thread that Rabbi Ovadya should have ordred Israeli Jews to overthrow this corrupt ruling system. This is not right, becuase Israeli Jews wouldn't do it. Most of them are concerned with earing their living, etc. and they are afraid to struggle with the system which is ruthless to those who challenge it. You should understand that Israelis do not do all that rabbis say. Of course, there would be some heroes who'd follow it, but they would be a minority and the system surely kill them.
Halachic rule should take reality into account.
You can ask why we need Shas then?
Shas influences the system from within. Without Shas, they could have done much worse things. When Shas sees it can really do something, it does. For example, they prevented Livni to give half of Jerusalem to Arabs and caused her goverment to fall. Not to mention their support of Torah institutions.
Shas doesn't care how its actions look like, it cares about the results. And they have achieved much. That is why the Leftist establishment hates them.