Yachad, Shas bicker over radio stations

Eli Yishai’s Yachad party filed a complaint with the Central Elections Committee against ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Chai, while Shas filed its own complaint against the Kol Berama radio station.

Aryeh Deri all smiles on December 30, 2014, after his resignation was rejected. (photo credit: Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Eli Yishai’s call to Shas for a truce yesterday fell on deaf ears, evidently, as the few reports of irregularities involved mainly activists of these two parties.

Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Salim Joubran issued restraining orders to both radio stations mandating that they refrain from broadcasting election material, even as he noted that he was not sure broadcasts on Tuesday violated the prohibition against electioneering on Election Day.

“I listened to the programming of Kol Chai radio and did not hear material that constituted electioneering,” Joubran wrote. Regarding Shas’s claim, Joubran again did not say electioneering material was aired but issued the restraining order “for the possibility it may be so.”

Shas MK Eli Yishai, December 8, 2014 (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Kol Berama was initially established under sponsorship from Shas, when Ariel Atias served as communications minister. But Shas has claimed the station is biased against the party since Yachad splintered from Shas. Zvi Amar, the owner of Kol Berama, is an associate of Yishai as well as of Rabbi Meir Mazuz, the spiritual leader of Yachad, NRG reports.