{"id":537440,"date":"2026-07-12T07:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/537440\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T07:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:47:12","slug":"top-shas-rabbi-signals-openness-to-working-with-eisenkot-rather-than-netanyahu-after-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/537440\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Shas rabbi signals openness to working with Eisenkot rather than Netanyahu after election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is also the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said on Saturday night that he has lost hope in the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ever \u201crepent\u201d \u2014 apparently for his perceived refusal to heed core ultra-Orthodox demands related to drafting Haredi men and sanctioning evaders \u2014 but expressed hope that the main Netanyahu rival in the upcoming election, Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot, could still do so.<\/p>\n

More than an assessment of the religious beliefs of the country\u2019s leader and challenger, the former chief rabbi\u2019s comments appeared to hint at Shas\u2019s shifting political alliances, as the party has grown frustrated with Netanyahu\u2019s inability or unwillingness to deliver on key promises relating to exemptions from military conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to our many sins, we are in a secular, non-ultra-Orthodox state,\u201d Yosef bemoaned in his weekly religious sermon. \u201cWe pray that everyone repents. There are those who will repent, there are those who won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill Bibi Netanyahu repent? Not a chance. Eisenkot, perhaps he will,\u201d mused Yosef.<\/p>\n

The remarks from the Shas spiritual leader came less than a week after the party\u2019s political leaders reportedly refused to pledge loyalty to Netanyahu and any future coalition he may try to form after the upcoming legislative election.<\/p>\n

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According to Channel 12, Netanyahu met with the leaders of Shas and the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party during the week and asked them to promise that they will remain an inseparable part of his right-wing bloc following the election.<\/p>\n

Shas party leader Aryeh Deri reportedly told Netanyahu that without the passage of two laws to defend draft dodgers, there was nothing to talk about \u2014 specifically the Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the state, and temporary legislation to halt the arrests of Haredi draft dodgers for 90 days.<\/p>\n

Leaders of United Torah Judaism responded in a similar manner, Channel 12 said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tShas leader MK Aryeh Deri, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a Shas party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Shas-affiliated HaDerech newspaper made the party\u2019s stance even clearer, with an editorial declaring that should the pro-Netanyahu bloc fail to pass the laws relating to ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, \u201cit will single-handedly disintegrate the \u2018natural partnership\u2019 on which it has relied for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yosef\u2019s suggestion that former Eisenkot could still \u201crepent\u201d also appears to be politically motivated, given that the former IDF chief expressed willingness over the past week to include Shas in a potential governing coalition if it accepts Yashar\u2019s three core principles.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hashabbat news site on Wednesday, Eisenkot said that any potential coalition partners would be required to recognize Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state, endorse the values of Israel\u2019s Declaration of Independence, and commit to all Israelis performing national service.<\/p>\n

If Shas were to accept these principles, Eisenkot said, he would be open to partnering with it.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot, who, like Shas\u2019s voter base, is of Mizrahi heritage, told the outlet that his mother has voted for Shas for 30 years, and quipped that it \u201cwasn\u2019t simple\u201d to convince her to switch her allegiance to his centrist party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see Shas as a partner on the condition that it accepts the three foundational principles,\u201d he said. \u201cShas is the party that is meant to send a positive message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Shas voters, I meet them, I grew up with some of them,\u201d Eisenkot added, noting that \u201cmany Shas voters\u201d serve in the IDF.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tGadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party attends a conference in Haifa, July 9, 2026. (Sharon Leibel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Yosef, the son of influential late Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has garnered a reputation for controversial remarks on matters of religion and state.<\/p>\n

Last month, he suggested that the deal between the US and Iran to end the war was a divine punishment for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara\u2019s efforts to crack down on Haredi draft evaders.<\/p>\n

In October 2025, he was heard in a recording calling a fellow rabbi and bereaved father of a slain soldier a \u201cheretic\u201d for supporting measures to enlist yeshiva students.<\/p>\n

And in May of that year, he warned\u00a0that if the government were to begin arresting yeshiva students for evading draft orders, then the ultra-Orthodox community would be forced to leave Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they force us to go to the army, the yeshiva students, if they come to yeshivas and arrest students, [then] we have no right to exist here [and] we will all go abroad, we will not stay here,\u201d Yosef said at the time.<\/p>\n

Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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