Shas and Bayit Yehudi could split amid leadership tension
Eli Yishai from ultra-Orthodox party Shas could leave party amid tensions with leader Deri; mulls joint list with Uri Ariel, who is considering split from Bennett's Bayit Yehudi party.
The Israeli religious right could face a political earthquake as two prominent right wing parties in Israel may undergo a serious realignment.
Shas, the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party currently being led by Aryeh Deri, could see a former leader and current number two Eli Yishai leave the party amid ongoing tensions with Deri.
Meanwhile, in the Bayit Yehudi party, Tkuma faction leader and Housing Minister Uri Ariel is mulling his own split from the religious-Zionist party – comprised of three smaller right wing factions – to start his own independent party.
According to political insiders, Yishai has been conducting marathon meetings with top rabbis affiliated with both Shas and the religious-Zionist movement, and is said to be seriously considering joining Ariel in his breakaway right-wing party, which will most likely position itself to the right of the Bayit Hayehudi.
Ariel and Bennett have been holding ongoing negotiations regarding the different factions continued cooperating under the Bayit Yehudi name, but Ariel's insistence that a group of seven top rabbis from the religious-Zionist movement continue to play a role in the party but without holding official position have put the two at odds.
"There will not be a Council of Torah Sages in my (party), no way, not on my watch," Bennett said in a refrence to the religious council which runs Shas.
In Shas, tensions are more personal. In wake of bad past experience together, Deri reportedly demanded that Yishai – who led the party for over a decade – give him a tentative letter of resignation ahead of the next election, which Deri was planning on holding as an assurance for Yishai's ongoing cooperation with the party line.
The demand reportedly enraged Yishai who has since been seriously considering a departure. The move would be radical in light of the centralized structure of the Haredi party, but not unprecedented.
In the past Deri himself had mulled running independently, but decided against it after the party's spiritual leader – now-deceased Rabbi Ovadia Yossef – urged him against the move. During the last election, Rabbi Michael Amsalem, a party MK, left the party to form his own, more progressive party, which failed to pass the election threshold.
Akiva Novik and Yuval Karni contributed to this report
