The chairman of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party, MK Aryeh Deri, said Monday night that he still wants to resign – despite the fact that the Shas Party’s Council of Torah Sages rejected his request to do so Monday night. In a letter to Shas members of Knesset and party activists, Deri said his resignation was still necessary to prevent further damage the reputation of the late founder of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
Above: Aryeh Deri
Deri Says He Still Wants To Resign, Many Analysts Reportedly Believe He’s Faking
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The chairman of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party, MK Aryeh Deri, said Monday night that he still wants to resign – despite the fact that the Shas Party’s Council of Torah Sages rejected his request to do so Monday night.
According to a report in Arutz Sheva, in a letter to Shas members of Knesset and party activists Deri said his resignation was still necessary to prevent further damage the reputation of the late founder of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
In a leaked video tape released Sunday, Yosef, who died in October 2013, is seen in 2008 calling Deri a “thief” and criticizing Deri for not listening to Yosef’s instructions.
Deri was convicted of public corruption a 15 years ago and served time in prison. Deri was replaced as party chairman by Eli Yishai after going to prison, and Deri was only reinstated as a party co-chair in 2012. He used that position to force out Yishai and the other co-chairman with what appeared to be Yosef’s blessing – but that blessing now appears to have been coerced from a frail, ill, elderly Yosef who died shortly afterward.
The videotape, allegedly leaked by Yishai (who left Shas earlier this month to form his own political party) is a tremendous embarrassment for both Deri and for Yosef’s reputation and prompted Deri to write a letter Monday to the party's Council of Torah Sages tendering his resignation conditioned on their approval. And even though the current members of the Shas Party’s Council of Torah Sages want Deri to stay as party chairman, Deri wrote Shas members of Knesset and activists Monday night to say he still wants to resign.
"My dear brothers, Knesset members and activists across the country, I ask of you - do not let your spirits fall. You must understand, after the contempt of the Torah and the desecration of G-d’s name which occurred yesterday I am not prepared for anymore damage to the great legacy of Maran ztz”l [i.e., Rabbi Ovadia Yosef].[…]The Shas movement founded by Maran ztz”l is stronger than this or that event and stronger than any private individual. I am sure that Shas will continue in full force and that from heaven, Maran is accompanying all its actions. Maran is alive and well," Deri wrote.
Many political analysts reportedly believe Deri doesn’t really want to resign and that instead, he is using his purported resignation attempts to rally the party’s Council of Torah Sages behind him.
The Council reportedly went to Deri’s home Monday night to personally tell him they rejected his request to resign.
Deri, however, was allegedly not at at home.
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Leaked Videotape Shows The Late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Calling Aryeh Deri A "Thief."