Former Shas leader: Government has abandoned the poor

The Hebrew year 5774, which draws to a close on Sept. 24, was undoubtedly the toughest year that Knesset member Eli Yishai, the former head of the Shas Party, ever experienced in his political career. The passing of the movement’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, at age 93 on Oct. 7, 2013, left Yishai vulnerable to attacks by his replacement, Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who had prodded the rabbi to remove Yishai as party head.

But nothing could have prepared Yishai for the series of humiliations that would befall him, one after the other. He was denied the privilege of speaking at the rabbi’s funeral, even though he had a close relationship with the rabbi, who was very fond of him. Later, he was forcibly removed from any position of influence within the party, and his people in it were “eliminated.” In many cases this meant that they lost their sole source of livelihood, but there was nothing that Yishai could do to help them.

At age 34 he was appointed minister of welfare, and at 37 the late rabbi appointed him as Deri’s replacement to head the Shas Party, after Deri was convicted of criminal offenses and resigned from political life in 1999. Now, all that is left for Yishai to do is to grind his teeth and wait. He made a commitment not to speak about internal party issues during the year of mourning following Yosef’s death.

Meanwhile, Shas is declining in the polls, and it seems as if Deri is unable to live up to expectations. But Yishai just grinds his teeth and waits in silence. As a politician he is jaded enough to know that he must not give Deri any reason to blame the current situation on him. According to senior members of Shas, it is only a matter of time before the feud between them goes public. They say that the deep divisions between Deri and Yishai at the very top of the party are far from being resolved, and that the chances of seeing Yishai continue in the party under Deri’s leadership are slim.