What does “no more Oslos” mean when he is ready to give away part of the land of Israel and part of Jerusalem. In essence he is saying he wants Kadima and Likud in the coalition with him. In that way he is free to side with either Kadima or Likud when deciding what to give away. He is also arguing that a broad coalition will give away less that Netanyahu has given away. I don’t like it. T. Belman
Aryeh Deri, who will likely lead a new party in the next Knesset, vowed in an interview Friday not to support a narrow leftist coalition.
In an interview with Haggai Segal of Makor Rishon, Deri said that his dream is of a broad coalition that will include Likud and Kadima, and he tried to assuage nationalists’ fears that he might give a hand to another deal like the infamous Oslo accords, which led to a five-year wave of mass murder on Israel’s streets, followed by the creation of a terror state in Gaza.
“I can faithfully promise you that there is no way I will lend my hand to a narrow coalition led by the Left,” he said. “This is the first time I have said this in public, but those who need to know already know.
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“The big contribution that I want to give the nation of Israel is the establishment of a unity government that will create an atmosphere of cooperation among all of us. I do not believe in a narrow government in any form, not one led by the Right and definitely not one led by the Left.”
Deri added that a unity government is also in the interest of religious people because it will lower tensions between religious and secular Jews – a tension that he thinks hurts the religious more.
Narrow governments are also worse for the Land of Israel, he explained.
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“Take the last two years. There is a narrow right-wing government with religious and hareidi-religious members, a seemingly ideal government, but we see the results: two years of a very harsh freeze (on construction for Jews), which is a very grave mistake for which we will pay a heavy price. The Prime Minister also came out in favor of two states for two nations. So what have we gained from the whole story?”
Deri was Interior Minister in the government formed by Labor’s Yitzchak Rabin in 1992. He has been blamed by nationalists, since then, for Shas’ decision to vote in favor of the Oslo Accords. On the day in which the cabinet was to vote on the Oslo agreement, Deri told Segal, he came to the Shas faction meeting and voiced “single-minded opposition” to the accords.
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“I said that I do not understand why we have to revive the PLO after Arafat was already on the floor in terms of his world status. I said that there are numerous security problems with the deal… Rabin and his aides were very stressed by what I said.”
Then, Deri recounted, the Government Secretariat told him that Shas mentor Rav Ovadia Yosef wanted to talk to him. When Deri told him that then-IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak told him that the agreement was “full of holes,” Rav Ovadia answered that Rabin, too, is a former Chief of Staff.
“In the end the Rav decided that we would abstain, and I wholeheartedly accepted his decision.”
IMRA’s Dr. Aaron Lerner noted that Deri kept his options open on dividing Jerusalem. IMRA brings the following excerpt from the interview:
Haggai Segal: In your election platform you will have to reveal if you are for or against dividing Jerusalem
Aryeh Deri: I do not have a solution for everything. When we reach it we will deal with it.
Segal: So I will ask you a different way: does the religious law decision of Rabbi Ovadia [Yosef] apply also to Jerusalem?
Deri: Everything has to be measured first of all from a security standpoint. After what happened in the Disengagement, I fear that if we transfer Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem we will start getting hit by rockets in Har Nof and Ben Gurion.
Segal: I notice that you don’t tell me that Jerusalem is an absolute red line.
Deri: From what standpoint. In terms of holiness?
Chagai Segal: Yes.
Deri: The sages of Israel will decide. This is too big a matter for me to make a decision on.
A Voice of Israel poll last week determined that a party led by Aryeh Deri would receive seven Knesset seats if elections were held today.
Deri’s interview for Makor RIshon follows a nationalist campaign to warn voters regarding his alleged defeatist tendencies. In 2008, Deri considered running for mayor of Jerusalem. At the time, Arutz Sheva quoted Baruch Marzel of the Jewish Front movement as warning, “Deri has not repented. He continues to mingle with the same clique, continues to declare left-wing opinions, and even after Gush Katif, still says that there is no choice and we must give up territories in the Land of Israel.”
Steven Bayme of the American Jewish Committee wrote: “Deri was a key player in the Oslo Accords signed with the Palestinians.”
Hi, Alan
If all parasites were shot or deported, I’m not sure how many of us would be left. I’m on shaky ground myself. In my early adult years, I set my heart to seeking God. After I convincingly found Him in the Bible, I dedicated my life to building up and helping the family of God. At first, this meant communal living; then community living, doing menial jobs in order to maintain fellowship with others who thought themselves to be engaged in God’s work. Over the years, I did piece a fragmentary career together, finally obtaining a Master’s degree in my 50’s; but I didn’t pursue it wholeheartedly. I took years off at a time, working without benefits for a church media ministry, or conducting Bible studies at homeless camps. My wife, meanwhile, has maintained a career and been my economic mainstay. Am I any different in this, from a hareidi perpetual student, supported by his wife and the government and spending his days at the feet of some rebbe in a yeshiva? Jesus was a typical rabbi, living by the labors of his fisherman disciples and some prominent women.
Every religious person has the same moral dilemna, whether he recognizes it or not. When one “does God’s work”, ideally, he is simply being God’s willing channel or vessel, chosen by God for the purpose. He can’t take any credit for what he does, because God is doing the work. Besides this, the work is difficult to quantify. What good does a rebbe or talmid do? In their own eyes, they are building a “World of Torah”, somehow keeping the word of God alive and available, like hearts and aortas pumping life into the world. Fortunately for us all, God’s word isn’t like human blood, that putrefies when it stops flowing: It stays alive without any effort on our part; and the efforts of the sages through the ages have not improved its quality. There is certainly value in men and women, chosen by God for the purpose, preserving, disseminating and elucidating His word; but this is a work whose objectives are hard to pin down, and which certainly cannot be quantified.
The net effect of the ultra-religious community in Israel, and of religious practitioners in general, has been FINANCIALLY parasitic. As the saying goes, “Haifa pays, Tel Aviv plays and Jerusalem prays”. In return for this drag on Israel’s economy, there has to be some return. To some, that return seems to be their large families, which maintain a Jewish majority. That is not their real benefit, though, unless those children are contributing something valuable to society. That thing of value is their doctrine — which, if it is correct doctrine, can hold together and enliven the people of Israel. As far as I can see, a mainstay of that doctrine is a Biblically-based understanding of the Land of Israel: If the religious are not leaders in propagating this, I believe they have fallen short of what God has them here to do. I believe they have NOT fulfilled this calling. To the contrary, it is Secular Jews who have taken the lead, both idealogically and physically. That is why I call them “parasites” and false prophets. I don’t exult in calling them that; and as they consider themselves to be God’s servants, I will leave it to their Master to judge or reward them. My opinion is, however, what it is.
Well, “Bland”, since they are ‘parasites’ you either shoot them or deport them. Makes no difference to me.
Alan,
If you haven’t followed my posts over the years, my criticisms of Ovadiah Yosef & Co. are actually a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the Jewish system of poskim, which relies on rabbis of reputation — one of the more prominent of which today, is Ovadiah Yosef. Judaism does not rely on Torah as Christians know it (namely, the five books of Moses), but on an “Oral Torah” of traditions handed down over the ages by rabbis commenting on other rabbis and, ultimately, coming up with rulings. The system is similar to the “Apostolic Succession” of the Roman Catholic Church, which purports to have an unbroken oral and written tradition back to Biblical times. Both systems are regarded by their respective cults as binding law. Martin Luther broke with this tradition with his proclamation that “Sola Scriptura” (only the Scriptures) was the proper basis of doctrine; and I hold with him on this.
Ovadiah Yosef is thus, in my reckoning, held in an esteem by his fellow Jews that he ought not to be held in; for his rulings are being followed instead of the commandments of God. That he is more than this, namely, a false prophet, is borne out by an ancient Christian cathechism called “The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles”, in which it is stated that if a prophet claims that God says you should give him money, he is a false prophet. Yosef, Shas and the whole religious system in Israel have gone beyond this: They are parasites on the backs of Israeli workers, sucking out their life blood. Such people ought not to be consulted in spiritual matters; as is borne out by the fact that even their political decisions, such as their acquiescence in the Oslo Accord vote, are often so contrary to the Spirit of the Scriptures. You are not likely to agree with all I’ve said here, but I don’t think it should surprize anyone that I think this way.
I have nothing personally against Rabbi Josef nor against Aryeh Deri. I simply understand that because of their vested interest in maintaining a free ride for the religious, they cannot possibly render political decisions that are in the best interests of Israel, nor spiritual advice that conveys the essence of Torah. They might have all the desire in the world to say and do what is right; but their privileged positions work against them in this. That said, they are leaders in Israel, and are due a certain reverence.
p.s. any stupid so-called Jew in Israel who’d vote for a crook and traitor Deri is no better than the sap-sucking scum of JINO Liberals who voted for Obama. No difference. They would deserve to be deported to Gaza IMMEDIATELY.
They ban Cat Stevens from Israel for supposed Hamas sympathies but allow the likes of Deri and Yishai to live there and be part of the government? Incredibly stupid.
Aryeh Deri, Eli Yishai and Ovadia Yosef should ALL be thrown in jail or deported back to the countries of their origin. In Yosef’s case, Iran.
They are nothing more than two-bit crooked, cowardly Ayatollahs who are a disgrace to Israel. In fact there’s not much difference between a Yishai or a Nasrallah up in Lebanon except this – Nasrallah has more GUTS than Yishai will ever have. He’s defied Israel, murdered two boys whom the Livnis and Yishais of the world promised to bring back alive when they voted for that cease fire that has left Israel more vulnerable than ever, and worse, when he carried out his threat to topple the pro-Western Lebanese Government, all of Israelis leadership including that piece of crap Yishai didn’t say bo-peep. But he knew how to allow a forest fire to devastate much of the Haifa area, and after the dead tried to blame others.
Why did Nazi collaborator Yitzhak Shamir outlaw Kach and allow Shas to remain as a legit party in Israel is one of the great unanswered questions – and sheer follies of Israeli History. Shas will vote any way it likes, even for Hamas as long as the money is there. They are undoubtedly Israel’s Hezbollah Party – without the guts nor the cunning except in how they pull it over on the likes of Sharon, Rabin, Barak and Bibi.
drjb said,
Odd, that Jews should entrust their eternal, spiritual welfare to a man that they can’t even trust in political matters. Ovadiah Yosef is a dangerous false prophet FULL STOP. When Jews stop listening to self-interested rabbis such as this, and start reading Torah only, plain and simple, there will be hope for them. As for Deri, I know this wasn’t an exact quote of his words, but the ordering in which they were presented is telling:
That is the ordering of priorities for ALL the religious parties: What’s good for the rabbis and parasites first, THEN maybe some crumbs for the Land of Israel. May God have mercy, and help Israel!
How much chutzpah does this man have???? Also, what’s going to make him any different than the rest of Shas, they’re all still subservient to the opininion of a secluded, and I fear, poorly informed Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who should at this stage, steer clear from anything political.
Only in Israel can a convicted felon run for public office. They should have thrown the book at him and the prison cell key along with it.
He is as dirty as they come. Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will do a Rabin on him.
The Oslo dead are turning over in their graves just by the mention of his name. He’s friends with BB, Olmert and Lieberman, that also says a lot about the lot of them.
Aryeh Deri? How dare he show his face in public!
spit
And spit on every jackass who votes for him.