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Yitzhak Yosef

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a Knesset House committee meeting, Jerusalem, June 8, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 2, 2026, 7:32 pm
AG says Ovadia Yosef memorial event can be held before election if it is privately funded
In letter to Religious Affairs Ministry, Baharav-Miara proposes splitting planned ceremony for late Shas spiritual leader into two separate events to assuage electioneering concern
By ToI Staff
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, during a weekly teaching at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
August 30, 2026, 12:11 pm
‘May God finish her’: Shas spiritual leader assails AG over electioneering ban
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef calls Gali Baharav-Miara ‘evil’ and ‘crazy’ over her order to postpone state-funded memorial service for his father Rabbi Ovadia Yosef until after election
By ToI Staff
A screenshot from a Shas campaign video featuring an IDF soldier from a Haredi background, which the Central Elections Committee ordered the part to take down on August 23, 2026. (Screenshot/Shas)
August 23, 2026, 7:19 pm
Election czar orders Shas to remove ad claiming troops support Haredi party
Judge gives Aryeh Deri 2 days to respond to Yashar petition alleging the video, featuring a religious family welcoming their soldier son home, violates election rules
By Sam Sokol
A screenshot from a Shas campaign video featuring an IDF soldier from a Haredi background that was ordered taken down by the Central Elections Committee on August 23, 2026. (Screenshot/Shas)
August 23, 2026, 8:21 am
Shas launches election campaign with video aimed at courting soldiers, Zionist right
Following ultra-Orthodox party’s relentless efforts to enshrine IDF exemptions in law, it bids to soften anti-draft image ahead of elections, showing soldier coming home to Haredi family
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
Shas party chief Aryeh Deri (left) and Yashar head Gadi Eisenkot seen at the funeral of Lt. Col. Roee Yohay Yosef Mordechay at Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery, on January 7, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
August 21, 2026, 2:59 pm
Eisenkot threatens to siphon traditional voters away from a panicking Shas
Fearing a mass voter exodus over the draft crisis, Aryeh Deri staged a show of unity with Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to save his party from a humiliating collapse
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, during a weekly teaching at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
August 12, 2026, 10:25 am
Former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef reportedly orders students not to vote for Shas
Religious leader, who sits on the party’s rabbinic council, said to privately call for toppling right-wing coalition, saying Netanyahu and allies ‘hate us, but the left respects us’; he denies the story
By ToI Staff
Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu attends a unity conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 22, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 12, 2026, 4:04 pm
Otzma Yehudit minister suggests far-right party may woo Shas voters
Comments by Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu follow Haredi party’s refusal to pledge support for another Netanyahu-led coalition until draft exemption law is passed
By ToI Staff
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, during a weekly teaching at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
July 12, 2026, 1:37 am
Top Shas rabbi signals openness to working with Eisenkot rather than Netanyahu after election
PM won’t ever ‘repent,’ but his challenger still may, says Yitzhak Yosef, reflecting party’s shifting alliances as it fumes over coalition’s failure to deliver a law on IDF exemptions for Haredi men
By ToI Staff
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, during a weekly teaching at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
June 21, 2026, 8:52 am
Top Shas rabbi: US-Iran deal is divine punishment for arrests of Haredi draft dodgers
Ex-Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, known for controversial remarks on matters of religion and state, also says ‘garbage’ attorney general to blame for Trump’s ‘turn against’ Israel
By Sam Sokol
Police clash with Israelis during a protest against the current Israeli government and the ongoing war with Iran, at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, April 4, 2026. (Flash90)
April 5, 2026, 2:22 am
Cops violently disperse protesters at Tel Aviv anti-war rally, after court raised attendance cap
Detained activists say police stopped them from reaching shelter amid missile attack; chief rabbi declares court ‘enemy of Judaism’ after permissive ruling is issued on Shabbat
By Charlie Summers and Sam Sokol
MK Aryeh Deri attends a Knesset session in Jerusalem on February 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
November 6, 2025, 9:49 pm
Despite apparently backing Bismuth’s draft exemption law, Shas still deeply divided
Senior Shas rabbis complain that chairman Aryeh Deri is weakening their influence in the party as it debates coalition proposal to regulate Haredi enlistment and IDF exemptions
By Sam Sokol
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, during a weekly teaching at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
October 26, 2025, 11:34 pm
Former chief rabbi calls father of slain soldier a ‘heretic’ for backing Haredi draft
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas party, suggests he wouldn’t count Rabbi Tamir Granot in a prayer quorum, draws broad condemnation
By Rossella Tercatin and ToI Staff
Former Sephardic chief rabbi and Shas spiritual leader Yitzhak Yosef arrives at an anti-enlistment conference in Bnei Brak, July 31, 2025. (Daniel Nafusi)
October 24, 2025, 1:49 pm
Top Shas rabbis pan party leader Deri as Haredi draft exemption bill remains elusive
In leaked recordings, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef says Shas should leave coalition, forcing elections; voices distrust of ‘atheist’ Netanyahu, whom he says his father, Ovadia Yosef, disliked
By Michael Horovitz
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 22, 2025, 5:05 pm
Jerusalem man indicted for allegedly asking rabbi’s permission to kill attorney general
Unnamed 36-year-old to remain in custody until Sunday, is charged with making threats against government official
By Charlie Summers
Yeshiva students participate in a prayer service against IDF conscription at Bnei Brak’s Slobodka Yeshiva, August 21, 2025. (Sam Sokol/The Times of Israel)
August 21, 2025, 9:19 pm
‘Studying Torah is what protects us’: Haredi leaders conduct prayers against IDF draft
Rabbi Dov Lando celebrates with draft evader in Bnei Brak; Tzohar’s Rabbi David Stav counters that prayer and fasting against conscription is a ‘despicable disgrace of God’s name’
By Sam Sokol
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