Shas chairman Aryeh Deri addressed the growing turmoil surrounding the proposed giyus legislation on Monday night, telling party MKs that discussions in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee are expected to begin “in the coming days.” Yet despite pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu, Deri declined to promise that Shas will ultimately vote in favor of the final draft that emerges from the committee.
Deri gathered Shas MKs and numerous municipal representatives in the party’s Knesset room for a closed-door meeting as the debate around the bill continued to intensify. Speaking to the group, he emphasized that once the committee finishes its deliberations, the matter will be brought back to the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah for guidance. Only after receiving clear direction from the gedolim, he said, will the faction determine how to vote.
At the meeting, Deri noted that if the gedolim ultimately approve the law, Shas believes it could secure the necessary majority during the current term — despite recent statements from several coalition MKs signaling that they may oppose it. “It’s possible that very soon this entire matter will already be behind us,” Deri remarked.
The controversy follows a strongly worded public letter last week from the former Rishon LeTzion, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, who sharply criticized those running campaigns against chareidi representatives.
“They are the same people who have been dividing and attacking the chareidi community for decades and even pursued my father during his lifetime,” Rav Yosef wrote. “Their intentions are not for the sake of Heaven, and one must stay far away from them and from their harmful ways.”
Addressing the draft legislation itself, Rav Yosef reiterated that the issue of regulating the status of yeshiva students remains fully in the hands of the special committee appointed by the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, which is overseeing the matter with “complete responsibility.”
On Monday, a senior chareidi figure deeply involved in the giyus discussions said that the proposed law is unlikely to pass at all — and if it does, it may not survive Supreme Court scrutiny.
“The law, in all likelihood, will not pass, and if it does pass, it will not stand in the Supreme Court,” he said. “Attias drafted a bill mainly to show the rabbanim that genuine efforts were made to address the issue. Maybe it will even help bring us back into the government — even without full legislation.”
The official added that the committee deliberations could still result in major changes. Among the scenarios being discussed is a demand by the committee’s legal advisor to raise the first-year draft quota to 7,500 recruits — a move that would require drafting approximately an additional 1,500 chareidim in the law’s initial year.
Within the Knesset, many believe that the legislation will not make it through during the current term — and even if it does, it may be struck down in the courts. For now, all eyes are on the committee’s upcoming sessions and the final word of the gedolim, upon whom the Shas faction has made clear its decision will ultimately depend.
{Matzav.com}
