Shas leader Aryeh Deri to step down from Knesset while remaining party chair
Decision comes after Sephardic Haredi party received drubbing at the polls; two others also leave slate, including reserve IDF major
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri is stepping down from the Knesset after voters handed the party a thrashing in the October 27 election, shrinking it from 11 seats to six.
The decision is a humbling one for Deri, the longtime leader of the Sephardic Haredi party whose career was marred by a corruption conviction a quarter-century ago. Although he will remain party chairman, he will no longer represent the faction in Knesset and remains unable to serve as a government minister due to his past criminal offenses.
The move comes days after Deri sought to resign as party chairman following Shas’s dismal showing in the election, its worst result in three decades. The party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages rejected his resignation, insisting that he remain at the helm to lead Shas’s efforts to secure military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.
In a statement on Monday, Deri acknowledged the council’s desire for him to remain in the leadership of the party and said he would act “with full vigor” in that role, but not in parliament.
“In light of the many missions and challenges we face, it is my intention to travel the length and breadth of the country, to strengthen the [party’s] direct and close bonds on the ground with representatives, activists and the public,” he said.
“In parallel, I will continue to lead the Shas delegation’s weekly meetings according to protocol, to guide the members of Knesset and to closely oversee the work of legislation and Knesset committees,” he added, vowing that the party would “safeguard the world of Torah and the State of Israel’s Jewish identity.”
Alongside Deri, Shas politicians Dror Amos and Moshe Abutbul are also stepping down from the party slate. Abutbul, who was in the No. 7 spot on the slate, did not win a seat in the Knesset.
Amos’s decision, however, is significant because he is a reserve major in the IDF, added to the party’s roster to project a moderate image on military service despite its staunch opposition to Haredi enlistment. He is resigning in the wake of reports that his nonprofit for bereaved families mishandled funds.
The resignations clear the way for MKs Uriel Buso and Yossi Taieb, nos. 8 and 9 on the Shas slate, to enter the Knesset.
Deri’s resignation comes with the party facing an uncertain future. A quarter-century ago, it was the third-largest party in the Knesset, with 17 seats, and has been a force in Israeli politics since then.
But voters appear to have punished it for its opposition to Haredi conscription, and it is now a junior partner to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition lost its majority in the election and whose bloc now numbers just 46 seats.
Deri, who entered politics some four decades ago, was once the youngest minister in Israeli history at age 29. He has served multiple stints as interior minister, but in 2023 was barred from the cabinet in a court decision that said his appointment was “unreasonable in the extreme” due to his criminal convictions, most recently for tax fraud in 2022. He was also convicted in 1999 of bribery and sentenced to prison.
The ruling makes it unlikely that he would get a ministerial position even if Shas were to be a member of the next governing coalition. Ministers do not need to be sitting members of the Knesset.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.