17:42 IL: The Jerusalem District Court a short time ago announced its decision regarding the petition of former Shas leader Rabbi Aryeh Deri. The court ruled that Deri is not eligible to run in the upcoming Jerusalem mayoral race due to the ‘moral turpitude’ clause that accompanied his conviction on fraud and bribery charges.
Deri completed serving his prison sentence on July 15, 2003, and explained to the court that when he was sentenced, the moral turpitude clause was for a period of five years. His former political nemesis, the late Justice Minister Tommy Lapid worked to increase the time period to seven years.
Deri maintained the restriction should not apply since at the time of his sentencing, the law called for a five year period during which he would be barred from public office, not seven. The court ruled that he is bound by the seven-year period and as such, he is not eligible to compete in the race.
Last week, Deri stated that he will abide by the court’s decision, indicating he does not plan to petition the Supreme Court if the ruling issued is not in his favor.
The ruling provides a major break for UTJ candidate Rabbi Meir Porush, who indicates he plans to continue running in the race despite a shaky support base among the frum community. Polls indicate that he is unable to beat Nir Barkat, the secular candidate in the race.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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3 Responses
It’s official! Let’s hope this is the end of this story!
While I certainly hope that the end of the Deri distraction will solidify support for one charedi candidate. It must be one who can win. Rav Elyashiv has already clearly stated that a loss-prone Porush candidacy will cause “everyone to lose”. It is time to stop the self-defeating politics. You hear that Agudah…REALLY LISTEN TO GEDOLIM SOMETIMES.
What a shame! Well what can one expect from a court that supported the whole original libel case based on one witness who is a convicted criminal in various countries in the world and a proven liar and some weak circumstancial evidence. The only reason they convicted Deri at all was to stop his popularity and chances of rising ever higher in political circles so obviously they will now find some lame excuse to stop his candidacy.
Mottel1, I totally agree with you but sadly in this case we are talking about a candidate who doesnt listen to Gedolim at all unless they say what he wants….. I explained further in the YWN Coffee Room already. One Rov told me that in reality there is only one difference between Porush and Barkat (the chiloni candidate) since they both dont follow daas Torah and that is that Porush covers his “chiloniut” with a beard and shtreimel…….