Shas rabbi gives Deri nod to head party solo

Former political leader to become solitary chief once more as tripartite leadership scheme is abandoned

By Yifa Yaakov 2 May 2013, 7:40 pm

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Yifa Yaakov is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Shas founder Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (center) flanked on the left by MK Eli Yishai and on the right by MKs Aryeh Deri and Ariel Atias, at the rabbi's house in Jerusalem, October 2012. (photo credit: Shas/Flash90)

MK Aryeh Deri will become the sole political leader of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas party, spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef indicated Thursday, ending the party’s tripartite power sharing pact.

Though an official statement on the matter is likely to be given only on Saturday evening, during the rabbi’s post-Shabbat sermon, Yosef said Thursday that Deri would be promoted, and the Shas spokesperson said the other leaders of Shas would fill other positions within the party, the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Shabbat news website reported.

Deri had headed the party before serving a jail term and being forced to take a break from politics last decade. He returned to the party last year and challenged party head Eli Yishai for the faction’s top spot in the run-up to January’s elections before coming to a power-sharing agreement that created a leadership troika of Deri, Yishai and Ariel Atias.

Deri’s family and supporters had been pressured by the rabbi to choose him over Yishai and Atias for the chairmanship of the party. It was not clear why the party decided to abandon the power sharing pact.

On Thursday, the party’s spokesperson indicated that Yishai – who was previously the chairman of Shas for 12 years running and who occupied the first position on the party’s Knesset list – would be responsible for overseeing the party’s educational network, while Atias would become chairman of the party’s Knesset faction.

Deri headed the party until he was convicted in 1999 of accepting $155,000 in bribes while running the Interior Ministry and as interior minister, and served 22 months in prison.

In October, Yosef welcomed Deri back to the fold and called the party’s three-pronged leadership a “triple bond that won’t be severed soon.”

Despite the charges against him, Deri remained very popular with the party’s voting base, and his return to a leadership position was expected to win Shas more votes. The party came away with 11 seats, the same as in the last government, however, and was forced into the opposition.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.