Senior Shas officials: Rabbi Yosef not yet ready to leave the coalition - Haaretz

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Thu., February 14, 2008 Adar1 8, 5768

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Senior Shas officials: Rabbi Yosef not yet ready to leave the coalition

By Mazal Mualem

Senior Shas officials have criticized the escalation in recent days by party chairman and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai of his threats to quit the coalition. They say that the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, does not want to leave the government at this stage. In addition, they say, the calls to leave contradict the position taken by the Council of Torah Sages three weeks ago, according to which Shas will leave the cabinet only if and when the issue of Jerusalem is discussed in negotiations with the Palestinians. The Shas sources say that because Yosef does not believe that the negotiations will lead to real results on their current trajectory, due to the weak position of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he sees no need for Shas to intensify its threats.

The sources emphasized, however, that Yosef is aware of recent statements ascribed to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, to the effect that Jerusalem has already been put on the negotiating table, and that he asked Yishai to request clarifications from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after he returns from Germany.

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Since Yisrael Beiteinu left the government last month, over its objections to the "core issues" being addressed in the negotiations with the Palestinians, leaving Shas as the lone right-wing party in the coalition, Yishai has moved Shas's foreign policy positions farther to the right and stepped up its threats to leave the coalition.

At first, Shas, with the approval of the Council of Torah Sages, made the discussion of Jerusalem its red-line issue. Later, Yishai implied that the raising of other core issues, such as the Palestinian refugees and the permanent borders of the state, were also problematic for Shas. On Monday he announced at a meeting of the Shas MKs that if progress was made in the negotiations while Qassam fire continued at its current rate, Shas would leave the coalition immediately.

Shas officials said that Yishai's latest threats point to his preparing the ground for pulling the party out of the government, despite Yosef's objections. Last week Yishai said at a conference of party activists that new Knesset elections could take place before the mayoral elections, currently scheduled nationwide for November.

The decision to hold a joint Shas-National Union tour tomorrow of the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Har Homa and Ir David also met with criticism from within Shas. The officials said it would be better to hold a separate tour for Shas, as originally planned.

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