Deri says PM must accept Shas terms if he wants to stay in the job

With little under a month until election day, ultra-Orthodox parties are already playing the coalition game:

Shas leader Aryeh Deri says that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not agree to the Shas conditions for entering the government, “he will not be prime minister,” Israel Radio reports.

Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri, Jerusalem, December 30, 2014 (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Deri may be punching above his weight, considering that Shas is polling at around seven Knesset seats and it is as yet unclear how votes will be divided between the party and Yachad, its splinter established by former Shas leader Eli Yishai after he was booted from Shas.

The Shas leader said he “prefers Bibi to be the next prime minister because this would be the natural choice of his electorate,” but added that Netanyahu would have to agree in advance to the basic demands of Shas.

Deri wants to raise the minimum wage to NIS 30 per hour and lower the value-added tax on basic food products.