If Deri starts own party, it will be heresy, Shas' Yishai hints

Interior Minister Eli Yishai on Sunday called on Aryeh Deri, his predecessor as Shas chairman, to return to the party.

In 2000, Deri was convicted of taking bribes while serving as interior minister and sentenced to three years in jail. He was released after serving 22 months due to good behavior.

In an interview with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama, Yishai said, "It's clear to me that [Deri] will do nothing to contradict the wishes of [leading rabbi and Shas spiritual leader] Ovadia Yosef. The Shas movement is united and strong, it has achieved many things it hadn't done in the past, and all of this is done under the rabbi's leadership. It is clear in the end that everyone will do what the rabbi demands and requests."

"This is our power and strength. These are the Torah teachings we act upon," said Yishai. "Deri's place is in the Shas movement. This is his home. Everyone is subject to the teachings of the Torah."

Deri announced his return to politics last year, when he said he would form a new party. Yishai was asked whether he thinks Rabbi Ovadia might support two parties. "There is no chance the rabbi will back two parties," he said. "There is only one Shas movement. Whoever wants to is welcome to help and lend us their support."

Ultra-Orthodox analysts said Yishai's statements are an attempt to trip up Deri, by emphasizing that any new party under his leadership would be viewed as a declaration of war not only on Shas, but on Rabbi Ovadia himself.

During the interview, Minister Yishai was also asked about State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss' report on the Carmel fire disaster in late 2010 and about allegations of accountability on his part for the botched firefighting efforts. The fire, considered the deadliest in Israeli history, claimed 44 lives and prompted accusations that the government did not do enough to bolster firefighting services in Israel.

"I am not really worried," Yishai said. "I am not afraid, because my actions speak for themselves. The state comptroller himself noted that no interior minister in the past ever did as much as I have. I went above and beyond. Judge Winograd [who headed the panel investigating Israel's performance during the Second Lebanon War in 2006] said that I should have received a medal for my work."

"If a different minister had been in charge,the attitude would have been different," Yishai said. "If the interior minister had been Avraham Poraz or Ophir Pines-Paz, who have different [political] agendas, and belong to a different group, there is no doubt they would have been treated differently. I am not part of their old-boy network."

"I have paid a heavy price for my views," Yishai said, "but I do not regret them."

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