Israeli ultra-Orthodox party locked in internal battle

On Dec. 14, when the head of the Shas Party, Aryeh Deri, commented on Knesset member Eli Yishai’s anticipated departure from the party, he actually sounded convincing, as if he were full of empathy and respect for Yishai. “I offered my friend Eli Yishai the No. 2 spot on the Knesset list, the position of minister, to ensure that he receives the respect that is his due,” said Deri, while expressing his disappointment over his fellow party member’s stance.

Deri attempted to portray the situation within Shas as calm and tranquil, while in fact, this clash of titans between him and Yishai already had started damaging Shas and was likely also to affect the coming elections. On the evening of Dec. 15, Yishai made his threats a reality and announced the establishment of an independent party, which means that Shas would be the first to suffer. Before this split, polls predicted it would only win about eight seats in the upcoming elections. It seems that from this point onward the situation of the party, which garnered 17 seats in 1999, will only continue to deteriorate.

That is why the decor that Deri organized for himself in the party’s Jerusalem headquarters was actually intended to hide the internal fights within Shas, and to add a certain modicum of authority and innovation to the party under his leadership. Sitting beside him was Adina Bar Shalom, the eldest daughter of the movement’s founder and spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, an enormous portrait of whom was set up behind them. Deri announced that Bar Shalom, a recipient of the Israel Prize, whose work in empowering ultra-Orthodox women is considered groundbreaking, will co-chair a new Women’s Council together with Deri's wife, Yaffa. That council will operate alongside the party’s leadership.

Given reports that Bar Shalom had been courted also by former Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon, head of the new Kulanu party, which polls indicate will be taking a chunk of Shas voters, her presence at the news conference was quite an achievement for Deri. It is yet unclear how Deri was able to convince Bar Shalom to join him, as it is a well-known fact throughout the political system that she never really appreciated Deri and thought that the relationship between him and her father was not as close and intimate as Deri portrays it. She even said as much in her terse, incisive style in a television interview just two months ago in which she responded to comments he made against her. “He hadn’t been in my father’s home for 13 years. What does he know about my father? Apparently, he doesn’t know him at all,” she lashed out at Deri.