Shas chairman Aryeh Deri remained loyal to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu despite pressure from Likud members to support another candidate for prime minister prior to the dissolution of the previous Knesset, a Channel 12 News report said on Monday.
The report showed a video of Deri speaking to a group of Shas-affiliated rabbonim in May, right after the dissolution of the 21st Knesset. “We were put under great pressure,” Deri said on the video, saying that senior Likud members pressured him to support a candidate other than Netanyahu for prime minister. “Why should we go to elections? We’ll let the president appoint someone else [to form the government] from the Likud or another party. Netanyahu didn’t succeed – it’s enough of standing on the side, waiting. Why are you supporting [Netanyahu] unconditionally?”
“They tried to test me, to convince me,” Deri continued. “But I said to them that it’s unthinkable. The public wanted Netanyahu. We went to elections and chose Netanyahu. We can’t appoint someone else because Liberman decided to replace Netanyahu. We can’t say to Netanyahu, ‘Okay, you did your part, go home.'”
“And I have no doubt that Shas with 12 mandates is much more important to Netanyahu and Likud than another one or two mandates would be for Likud.”
The Channel 12 News report added that the video in question was from a few months earlier but another recent conversation was revealed from only a few days earlier in which Deri said that he received another similar appeal to form a government with Likud – without Netanyahu.
Despite this irrefutable proof of Deri’s loyalty to Netanyahu, apparently Netanyahu doesn’t share the same sense of loyalty toward Deri and Shas. On Monday, Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page, telling voters that it’s impossible to vote for two parties.
“You can’t vote for two parties,” Netanyahu says in the video. “You can’t say: ‘I’ll vote for Shas and Netanyahu.’ There’s no such thing. You have to vote only for Likud.”
Netanyahu’s video was prompted by a Shas campaign conveying the message that a vote for Shas is a vote for Netanyahu as well. Shas hung billboards with an image of Shas chairman Aryeh Deri together with Netanyahu, conveying to voters that Shas will choose only Netanyahu for prime minister and a vote for Shas is an automatic vote for Netanyahu and a right-wing government.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Whoever wrote this doesnt understand politics In short, its not personal, its business.. It is Netanyahus job and goal to create a strong Likud and it is Deris job to create a strong Shas, They can be friends and allies, but the bottom line is that Netanyahu wants votes where he can , as does Shas.
A big tado about nothing. Typical politics
Answer to juvenile headline:
Yes.
Shameful how he treats …. Deri ??
It’s called trying to win by reminding voters that Shas is a completely separate party .
And of course deri’s previous actions/decisions were borne out of absolute loyalty to Netanyahu as opposed to self-interest of his party .
Will you also attempt to sell your readers a bridge in new york?
Don’t kid me! Deri is not loyal to anyone but himself. What was the name of the fellow who ran shas when deri was in prison? Rav Ovadia wanted deri to keep him in but deri kicked him out because he was afraid of sharing power with some one else.
Deri is in for Deri and not for Bibi. As long as he can suck money out of the government he kisses up to Bibi, but no money, no Deri, no loyalty….
Please, you really want us to believe there is any loyalty in politics? come on…
Not Deri is loyal to Bibi , nor should he be; if anything he should be loyal to his voters, and their interests, and that is what he does