One of the gauges at one’s disposal to evaluate a candidate’s growing popularity in the Israeli political arena is monitoring to see if that person suddenly becomes a target in one scandal or another. This is the norm, as it has been in the past, including the banning of MK Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach Party was equated with being a “terrorist party”. On the other side of the political spectrum, MK Dr. Ahmed Tibi, then the most senior advisor to Arafat, sat in Knesset, for the latter does not pose a political threat, but quite the contrary, his presence is testimony to the democratic fibers of the modern Jewish State. Kahane, in a big measure due to a wave of Arab terror attacks at the time, was predicted to earn over 12 mandates in the upcoming general elections according to a Maariv poll. Israel’s political establishment was not about to sit back and permit this to happen, and miraculously, left and right joined forces to oust the common threat.

Many feel that was the case regarding Aryeh Deri, who became the youngest cabinet minister in the nation’s history, rising to a position of power far extending the confines of his Interior Ministry office — until he too was taken down and convicted of white collar crimes, sent to prison and marked with the ‘moral turpitude’ stain that banned him from the political arena for seven years following his release from prison.

Now, more than seven years after his release Deri has signaled he intends to return to his natural home, the political arena, and his growing popularity is a threat to the left and right-wing alike. Deri experts feel will draw votes from the left and right wing alike, as well as from Ashkenazim and Sephardim and from frum and chiloni voters.

As election fever begins to permeate the daily news feeds in Israel, the Yisrael HaYom newspaper, aligned with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues its Deri bashing. Last week the paper wrote Deri is planning to leave Har Nof, a bastion of Shas hierarchy for another area, signaling he plans to launch a new political party and is distancing himself from Rav Ovadia and the Shas leadership.

The Tuesday, 29 Teves 5772 edition places Deri on the first page, addressing an illegal roof addition to his Har Nof apartment that may lead to a criminal indictment against him. The pergola, a common site in many chareidi areas, including Kablan Street in Har Nof where Deri lives, is illegal according to the newspaper report, adding an indictment is being drafted against Deri as a result. Generally speaking, when addressing illegal construction, a person is served with demolition orders, not a criminal indictment but the newspaper indicates the treatment of this illegal construction is receiving aggressive care.

In the Tuesday article, journalist Yehuda Schlesinger reports that Deri is moving because of the illegal construction, seeking to distance himself from the problem, not from Rav Ovadia as the paper speculated last week.

Jerusalem Municipality officials report there is a permit to expand. That permit was contingent on Deri obtaining approval from his neighbors. Nevertheless, after Mrs. Yaffa Deri applied for the permit, and neighbors objected, Aryeh Deri reportedly spoke with each tenant and persuaded them to permit the addition on the building rooftop. Jerusalem officials add that the current structure represents “a minor building code infraction” and as such, the file has been handed over to city legal officials for additional scrutiny, seemingly playing down the severity of the infraction.

Deri attorney Yitzchak Bornstein explains he has been dealing with this issue for the past five years, during which time nothing was built or modified regarding the structure in question. He explained they continue working to have the necessary permits issued in compliance with the law, including making all necessary payments as required under the law. Bornstein adds that only two neighbors objected, not “all” as indicated by the newspaper, and their grievances were heard by the district planning board.

Deri’s attorney adds that the construction was supervised by an engineer and architects to ensure total compliance with the permit granted to his client.

And finally Deri aides responded to the article explaining The Netanyahu aligned newspaper is afraid of Deri’s growing popularity and well aware of the electoral threat he poses to Netanyahu.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)