Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardic chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar who cannot be trusted” during a closed-door conversation and suggested that the ultra-Orthodox party could support former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot in Israel’s next election, Army Radio reported Sunday.
Yosef, one of Shas’ most influential religious authorities, accused Netanyahu of deceiving the party over legislation intended to protect military-service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. “Netanyahu deceived us over the conscription law and other issues,” he was quoted as saying.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Sephardic chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef
(Photo: Yaakov Cohen)
According to the report, Yosef praised Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff who later entered politics and positioned himself as a centrist alternative to Netanyahu. “Gadi Eisenkot is a good man, a warm Jew. He loves Torah scholars,” Yosef said. “His grandmother voted for Shas and wanted him to become a rabbi. That did not happen, but he is someone who can be trusted.” He added: “We may go with him in the next election. We may support him as the next prime minister.” Yosef also expressed hope that United Torah Judaism, Israel’s other major ultra-Orthodox political alliance, would join Shas in backing Eisenkot.
Responding to Yosef’s remarks, Eisenkot told Army Radio he would not soften his position on the legislation governing ultra-Orthodox military conscription. “We will not compromise on the conscription law, even if that means going to another election,” he said.
In public remarks a day earlier, Yosef drew a pointed comparison between Netanyahu and Eisenkot. “We live, because of our many sins, in a secular country, not an ultra-Orthodox country,” he said. “We pray that everyone will repent. Some people may repent, and there are some whom I do not believe will ever repent.” Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, he added: “Will Bibi Netanyahu repent? There is no chance he will repent. Eisenkot might.”
The remarks come amid growing tensions between Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox political partners over the status of yeshiva students who have long received broad exemptions from compulsory military service. The issue has become one of the most divisive in Israeli politics, particularly after years of war and repeated reserve call-ups intensified public pressure for a more equal distribution of military service.
Eisenkot recently described Shas as a potential political partner in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar HaShabbat. “A large proportion of its voters serve in the military. I saw that when I was chief of staff,” he said. “I view Shas as a party that serves, is integrated and should become further integrated.” Unlike some ultra-Orthodox parties that do not identify with Zionism, he said, Shas has “very broad Zionist elements.” Eisenkot added that he viewed the party as a possible partner if it accepted three basic principles, though the quoted remarks did not specify them.
Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot
(Photo: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Eisenkot also referred to his personal connection to Shas, saying his mother had voted for the party for 30 years before he persuaded her to support his own political list. He also praised Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, who has served in senior government roles and participated in the Security Cabinet, saying Deri “has an understanding of security affairs.”
Shas, which represents many Sephardic and Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox voters, has traditionally been a central partner in Netanyahu-led governments. In recent days, however, the party has signaled for the first time that it may no longer consider itself automatically bound to the right-wing bloc. That warning appeared Friday in an editorial published by Haderech, Shas’ official newspaper.
“Without a common denominator, there is no common camp,” the editorial said. It accused figures within Netanyahu’s bloc of yielding to what it described as a false campaign against legislation that would enshrine Torah study as a protected national value and help block or freeze arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders. “There are already those speaking about retreat, ‘softening’ and amendments that would empty the law of its content,” the editorial said. “These people, who know better than anyone how the media poison machine operates, are suddenly willing to bargain away the most important basic law for the Torah world.”