"Channel 12 made a poisonous and ugly campaign against the ultra-Orthodox, the article about Ben Gurion Airport was distorted and distorted" • "Now that I see the people working, it may be good that the rotation did not take place" • Shas Rabbi Aryeh Deri already knows how the election will end
"I have already seen several election campaigns. I have never seen one like this."
Deri, this week
Photo:
Eric Sultan
Aryeh Deri can be said to be one of the politicians who saw almost everything.
He has been in politics for more than 30 years, has been through prime ministers, political exercises, the black beard has already turned white, and he still testifies that an election like the one before us has not taken place before.
"I have already seen several election campaigns. I have never seen one like this, for so many reasons. For me it is a sixth election campaign in two and a half years - there were three in the Knesset, one for the local authorities and one in the second round in Jerusalem, which was very important to me. And frustrating, especially after the previous time we worked hard, achieved a great result and even formed a dream government - a broad government, a unity government, and suddenly everything crashed.
"Add to that the story of the Corona. We are in an event we have never been like before, an economic, health, social event that we will only know in years to analyze what happened to us - and suddenly go to the polls. What has happened in recent months is terrible. Decisions made for political reasons and uncertain future. We don't know what will happen in the election, what the turnout will be, what the mood of the voters will be, how many will come. "
The political map has also changed, we are in a game of right versus right.
"This is the main change. We were supposed to be happy. In all the polls, the national right-wing bloc has more than 70 seats even without Lieberman, which is great. But an act of the devil, the election campaign is conducted mainly in the right-wing bloc. It's taken us a long time to digest that Lieberman, who was our flesh and blood, who has been in all our coalitions for the past 30 years, has become 'just not Bibi' because of revenge, hatred.
"Suddenly Gideon Saar, Elkin, people from the Likud who sat with us Work with us, do things with us - go against Netanyahu.
Add Naftali Bennett, who does not go to the same extreme, but nevertheless challenges the right-wing prime minister.
"I do not understand Bennett. It might have been justified when Netanyahu received twenty or so seats in the polls, but now? It just creates laxity in the camp. There are difficult tasks now, especially with the Biden administration. We had four years of paradise for us, and now we have to deal with A new administration. "
Bennett and Saar want to replace Netanyahu, is that not legitimate?
"To this day, Naftali Bennett has spoken out on Netanyahu's trial with much greater sharpness than I have. He said that Netanyahu is being persecuted, that he is being wronged. Why is he suddenly disqualified if not the trial? Why persecute Netanyahu? Someone doubts that Netanyahu is the best prime minister That he had the right-wing camp, and that he had more to do and contribute?
Yes, they and a few other people in the political system have a doubt.
"I understand Gideon Saar.
I think over the years Netanyahu made a mistake with him, he should have been a member of this government.
Saar should have been given a role in the government, yet he is one of the veterans and senior members of the Likud. "
If Netanyahu had given Saar a role, would he not have resigned?
" I have no doubt.
If Elkin had been left in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and not given a bag like the water bag, he too would have stayed.
In the end everything is personal.
So it may not have been justified to treat them like that, but there is a difference between it and creating such a rift in the right-wing camp and such harsh statements against the prime minister.
This is a very big mistake. "And
maybe it's not personal? Maybe they just think that Netanyahu failed in
the corona
and it was time to replace him?
" They ran the corona, that they can say such a thing ?!
In the test of the result, we are the only country in the world that has succeeded in vaccinating five million people.
The corona was a worldwide hit, take the strongest and richest democracies in the world, look what's happening to them and what's happening to us.
In the US half a million die. England, France and Germany are beaten in Corona. Our economy is one of the best in the world. Every deceased is a terrible pain, but in the number of deaths relative to other countries we are in a better position. In our hospitals there was not a single minute we were collapsed. We did not reach a situation like in Italy, where we had to live who would live and who would die.
"And what do you think, that we prepared for Corona?
Was there a book that gave instructions?
We did not know what this virus was.
Did we know what a British variant is?
South African?
With all due respect, we worked day and night all year.
It is clear that we have made mistakes, especially in recent months, unfortunately for the rabbi, as there was no good government.
Look at the beginning of the Corona, in the transitional government, the narrow government, how we managed it in a strong, sharp, good way.
In recent months, when there was a parity government, it was impossible to make decisions on any issue, when they (blue and white; YS) know that they are going to the polls and shuffling about the blocking percentage.
"We have seen this in all the decisions.
We wanted to help businesses with property taxes, the attorney general approved, and blue and white did not approve, so that it would not help Netanyahu.
Someone gave them advice strategically - Say NO to anything, so it will look like you are leaders. "
When did it start? From the moment the announcement of the election?
" Yes. "
But even before that there was no joint work better between the parties. The fact that the government broke up.
" It's true , But on the subject of the corona we worked well together at first.
"Once they realized that Netanyahu was not transferring a biennial budget as they wanted and would not have a rotation, they began to behave differently."
* * *
What will the political map look like the day after the election?
"I am almost convinced by my experience, my knowledge, my travels in the field and the polls I do that Netanyahu will be the next prime minister, have a government of at least 61 seats, if not more, together with Naftali Bennett, and then the sky is the limit. There are many more options to expand the government. "
And if you do not reach 61?
Deri laughs.
"You can not, for your own forgiveness, ask a slightly older and slightly more experienced person who tells you confidently that this is what is going to happen, 'what if it does not happen'. It is difficult for me. My head does not work in two phases, my head works on having 61 ".
And as you say - you're not in politics for two days, you know things can change and you'll not get to 61.
What will you do then?
"There are a lot of options. I will not go into them now, but when I hear the three prime ministerial candidates from the other side - Lapid, Saar and Bennett, who each say 'I will only be prime minister' - I realize there is no other option. I try to think how they are. Can form a government of 61 and do not see it happening, with the work? With the joint list? Leave.
There is a scenario that if you get to 61 with Bennett, Bennett's leverage on the other side is stronger.
He will tell them: either you give me the prime minister, or I go with Netanyahu.
And they will have to give it to him.
"Do me a favor. In the next two weeks you will be exposed to amazing text that is all campaign. Both Bennett, Saar and Lapid. Their option to increase their voters in these two weeks is just to take from each other. The challenge of Saar and Bennett is mostly not to degenerate into a single digit number, they We must prove to the people of Israel that they can form a government, while they know that they have no such chance, there is no such possibility. They are not stupid, they understand that there is no chance.
"There are so many Shatnaz in this bloc.
Bennett, who wants to be the leader of the right-wing public, will go with the joint list?
With Meretz?
With Labor and its number seven? "
What's the problem? Netanyahu also sat with the Labor Party.
" Leave.
Not a chance.
trust me.
I was the first to reveal at an election conference in Ashdod that Yvette Lieberman plans to establish 61 together with Blue and White with the support of the joint list.
He almost sued me, said I was defamatory and inciting, and you saw in the end that without Joaz Handel and Zvika Hauser, such a government would have been formed.
"I inform you, the joint list is their only option, and it is not practical. There is a difference between Lieberman and Bennett. Bennett wants to be the leader of the right-wing bloc in the future, after Netanyahu, where he looks. He will in no way go to the government under a torch or an assault."
You will not sit with any of them?
"I will sit with them, but in our government. Bennett will sit with us, and after he sits with us, Saar and his party will also enter. There are no ideological differences between us."
Do you think Bennett and Saar will end up with a single-digit number?
"There is a good chance that Shas will end up with more seats than these two parties.
I heard that Saar said on television this week that the ultra-Orthodox are blackmailing Netanyahu, that they have paralyzed Netanyahu, and that this will not happen to him.
I got comments from friends, I laughed.
I said, leave, do not judge your friend until you get to his place.
The man in the middle of a campaign, built a campaign that he was going to form a government, had 20 seats.
Every week it goes down.
Apparently his advisers said, hit the ultra-Orthodox, and maybe stop the fall.
Beat the ultra-Orthodox, and you might get one more seat.
"It hurts me, but sages say: 'Everything is ashamed and ashamed.'
I know Saar and Elkin.
I know what their opinions are.
Until recently, they made attempts to meet me secretly. "
What did they want to talk about?
" Leave.
I'm not talking to anyone.
I do not have one in my mouth and one in my heart.
After the election, with the help of the name, I will do everything I can to bring them closer, to bring them to us.
Netanyahu will be the next prime minister.
The people of Israel need it very much in front of the Americans, in front of the world.
He should continue the Abrahamic agreements.
There are some other very important Arab countries that need to continue this thing in front of them. "
Until the election, will there be another country that we will sign with?
" I do not know.
Just remember that these vaccines, the people of Israel were blessed with, and "God performed a miracle for us by his messenger, Netanyahu."
Is he the messenger of God?
”Obviously he is a messenger, everyone is a messenger.
He knows how to do things optimally.
Remember, do not know how long the vaccines will last, half a year, a year.
Need to prepare further.
We will have to bring in tens of millions more vaccines, and Netanyahu knows how to do this. "
What do you think about the way Yair Lapid is doing?
" I agree with Netanyahu that he is the candidate in front of him.
For several election campaigns he runs an orderly, institutionalized party, with branches all over the country, working very hard to hold this thing.
He gives a fight in his own way.
There is no chance in the world that Torch will give Saar or Bennett the prime minister, not even for a month.
He will be the big party, will be twice as many as them.
Both together will not reach his numbers, and he will not give them in any way in the world.
He's going to the polls and will not let them. "
You notice he's not attacking you.
" Too bad.
It could have helped me.
When he decided to rehabilitate me (in 2015, Lapid told Deri: "You are a convicted felon, I want to rehabilitate you"), it helped me not bad. "
Maybe he is building on you as a partner in his coalition?
" Oh really. "
* * *
This week you saw the picture of Netanyahu among the Bedouin.
Did you like his journey to the Arab public?
"This is a very important act for the State of Israel, leave the elections. To bring this public together, to give it a sense of belonging, it will contribute to the security of the State of Israel."
Don't you see this as something cynical?
"I know the Arab public well. I tell you that they see Netanyahu's act as a kind of continuation of the Abrahamic agreements, a peace of the Jewish people in Israel with the Arab people in Israel. Therefore, they give it a place."
But it's cynical, it only happens because there are elections.
"I look at the test of the result. If it contributes to their combination, to a sense of belonging, and there will be more police, and there will be more budgets - then the State of Israel has benefited from this story."
Will the Bnei Gantz government also include Bnei Gantz?
"I do not want to be cynical, but before he passes the blocking percentage. I doubt it. Not because of the man, but because I estimate that in the last days before the election, Lapid and others will put a lot of pressure on calling to save the left bloc, not take risks and lower the small ones."
Do you think he will retire?
"I do not care, not my problem."
Ganz Yes it has been your problem for the last year, your relationship has not been anything.
"You will not find my trial against them in the last year."
After he decided to set up a committee to investigate the submarines, he convened a press conference and said he was acting for political reasons.
"Do you doubt it was a political consideration? It was revenge on the prime minister, so I was heartbroken. If it was a security consideration I would not have intervened."
You actually started well a year ago, you were his guarantor of entering government.
what went wrong?
"They felt frustrated that the government was not continuing, that Netanyahu was not fulfilling the agreement with them. They could not establish a relationship of trust between them and Netanyahu. And I will tell you one more thing. It is true that there is my statement that I said I was sure the agreement would be fulfilled. But let there be no misunderstanding: I knew about the agreement being formed between Netanyahu and Gantz only from the media.
"Even then, when they began to dive into all the details - a private government, an alternate prime minister, the whole agreement with this strange structure that no one knows how to eat - I was not Involved as it is.
It was only after they had finished all the details and got into a small crisis around the Judicial Appointments Committee that I went in at the last minute to do some mediation.
That was all my contribution.
When a man is a guarantor, he is a partner in the signature.
In this case there was nothing.
"It's true that I encouraged Ganz, but remember one thing: he came to this government because he had no other alternative. Three times he tried to form a government and failed. Last time, almost until the last minute, he was going to form a government with the common and leave us out. "Only because of Hauser and Handel, who did not give him, and then there was a clear possibility - either an election or to form a government with Netanyahu. He was afraid to go to the polls. Unfortunately, a relationship of trust between two leaders no one can create, they have to create them themselves.
" , I'm sure he's sorry he listened to Nissenkorn, which led him to a personal war against Netanyahu, lost wars.
He could have continued in government in the most dignified manner.
What is wrong with Defense Minister, Foreign Minister, acting Prime Minister?
They made a mistake, they went into a corner, led Israel to the elections.
"Here, in my office, on this couch, Nissenkorn was sitting a year ago, right at the beginning of the budget crisis. I told him, my father, you are making a mistake. You are climbing a tree that cannot be dropped. There is no way in the world to force Netanyahu to give you a budget for two years. "Do not argue about it. If you fight, he will go to the end, we will go to the polls, and you will not pass the blocking percentage. The walls here shook from his rolling laughter. He told me 'you are a smart person, but you are disconnected'."
So you were not a guarantor of the agreement.
"Guarantee at the declaratory level. Take a mortgage once? Stamping guarantors? You have to come to the bank, sign, bring a notary."
Ganz says you cheated on him.
"He can say until tomorrow morning. Why did I suddenly cheat on him? Why, I want an election ?!"
* * *
Let's talk about Netanyahu.
You're the man's umbrella.
You give him legitimacy.
"I've been with him in partnership for a long time. I have complaints about him sometimes, if you were behind my door here in the office you would hear conversations of shouting between us, that you would not believe, like a husband and wife who quarrel. But we know how to get along. He knows I do not compete, I Appreciate him, and it's mutual. It works very well. When I see Netanyahu, who is in full force in front of those claiming the crown from the right-wing camp who want to succeed him, I think - what reason in the world do I have to leave Netanyahu? Both his public and my public want him. "30 seats want Netanyahu. Can this be ignored? Is there no longer the will of the public? Is there no will of the people?
" I have never seen another person who hears so many opinions, who listens to so many experts, to every minister.
In our private conversations I tell him, where did you get that patience from?
How much can you hear all the chatter in the cabinet and government?
Enough, let's set up a small team and decide for ourselves.
You have to make decisions. "
What did you think about not transferring the budget?
" There is a budget.
In the beginning, when Blue and White demanded to transfer a biennial budget, it was irresponsible.
All the finance officials, the accountant general, were all against.
How can you move a budget when you do not know what the corona will bring with it?
We said, let's make an annual budget.
They insisted, because they wanted to ensure the rotation.
"Between us, to tell you the truth, I believe that everything that rolls in the world - everything from it will be blessed. Now, when I see the working souls, it may be good that the rotation did not take place. They (Ganz and Ashkenazi; YS) are good people, but not everyone Can be prime minister.
Prime Minister is something completely different, it is one of the most difficult roles in the world, a very complicated role.
Should be super intelligent, should be in all decision-making capacity, nerves of iron, international relations.
And most of all, you need experience. "
You praise Netanyahu so much. Why should people vote for you and not for him?
" Gideon Saar said halfway through that there is a chance that the Likud faction will have infiltrators who will move to him after the election.
It can be said that Shas is even more loyal to Netanyahu than the Likud Knesset members. "
* * *
What did you think about the affair of the Ben Gurion Airport Exceptions Committee, which was published on Channel 12?
"Channel 12 carried out a poisonous and ugly campaign against the ultra-Orthodox.
It was a distorted and distorted article, everyone later saw how wrong she was.
They did it probably out of political considerations.
shame.
The Exceptions Committee has no preference for any population.
Many Haredim come from New York, many seculars come from Frankfurt. "
A week later, they published a letter from the Attorney General of the Immigration and Population Authority, in which he claimed that" political factors interfere with the discretion of who will enter Israel. " Mammoths.
"It's one big nonsense.
There is a struggle between the Population Registry's workers' committee and their manager.
Such a struggle does not catch even a flash in the media.
What did they do?
They took a lawyer, who took out a letter and added a line in which he puts in the minister's office, so that Channel 12 could broadcast it.
Because a struggle between the workers' committee and its managers does not interest anyone.
No complaints, no proof, even without the name of the assistant.
Just to broadcast it. "
Your assistant did not come to Ben Gurion Airport and intervene in what was happening?
"He is my referent in everything related to Ben Gurion Airport, he gets there with any problem. If there are long queues, if there are problems, inquiries coming from the GSS and the institution, or special cases.
He takes care of everything.
But he did not fire anyone from a hotel, it is not at all in his authority nor in our authority, but only in the authority of the Ministry of Health.
"I'm facing very hard pressure, I have a lot of inquiries, I even turned to my wife to put pressure on me. I stood all the time like a solid cliff and did not let anyone in who was not allowed to enter. Leave, all these publications are not serious, if I said I support Gideon Saar, there would be "They make me a hero. I decided not to go to the Channel 12 influencers' conference, because I am not one of those who serve the other cheek. They acted vengefully against me."
* * *
There were experts who talked about another closure on Passover.
What do you think?
"I have never heard anything like it. The health care system is functioning, it has not collapsed, it is one of the best health care systems in the world. We have an economy that, despite all the crises, is one of the strongest in the world."
A crazy deficit, that our grandchildren will pay.
"And yet, we get the highest credit rating in the world. Why? Because our face is beautiful? Because of debt-to-GDP, because we have succeeded in the economy."
Where are you less successful?
"There are many things that in retrospect, if I had the experience I have then, I would have done differently. I was in the government from the first moment of the Corona, I bore a burden, I was responsible for the ultra-Orthodox sector, for the Arab sector. I do not run away from responsibility. "And we also made mistakes."
Like Ben Gurion Airport?
"There is no doubt that we have not prepared enough for the issue of Ben Gurion Airport. The decision-making in the last six months has been cumbersome, heavy, slow, not timely. We could have made faster and sharper decisions."
You have made decisions regarding the opening and closing of areas in the economy at too short a two-day notice.
"Yeah, he's what I said. Well, what can I do?"
Were you also wrong about the issue of closing and opening the school?
"On the subject of education, big mistakes were made. Unfortunately, the rabbi did not take the place he deserved. Today they say the ultra-Orthodox were right when they opened, understand the psychological consequences, the harm to students. I shouted at the government from day one. "So education should be closed as well. But if something is opened, the first thing that needs to be opened is education."
So why open the trade first?
There was very great pressure from the merchants.
Then there was a big controversy over the schools, between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, how to open, in what method, capsules.
Let’s just say it will take us a long time to fix and complete what our children went through.
I'm afraid there is irreversible damage.
"A day that went by does not come back, at young ages it is critical. These youth had no framework, friends, teachers. They sat all day at home in front of Facebook, without frames, lost day and night."
It is precisely because of these failures that the government is said to have failed.
"Do you think anyone else would know how to do it better? I do not like to speak in person, but people in those parties who criticize us were part of the time with us in government and the coalition. When we closed, they said open. When we opened, they said close. It is not serious."
* * *
The corona has severely damaged relations between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular.
"The corona has lowered the mood, attention and patience to zero. Everyone takes care of themselves, looks at what the other is doing. And another thing happened: the ultra-Orthodox's complete identification with Netanyahu. The ultra-Orthodox are seen by opponents of Netanyahu as a barrier to replacement. Against the ultra-Orthodox to speak the most legitimate thing in the world. "
Perhaps the ultra-Orthodox brought it on themselves with the violations of the mass guidelines.
"I do not run away from responsibility, but whoever I am in charge of, the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox public of Shas, has strictly adhered to the guidelines throughout.
Our spiritual leaders have said unequivocally to keep instructions, to hold prayers only on the balconies, to celebrate Seder night alone, to wear masks, to close Talmudic Torah. "And the
rest of the ultra-Orthodox public?
" The ultra-Orthodox public is not one piece.
There are factions and streams that are not related to each other in anything except being ultra-Orthodox.
Sometimes the distance between an ultra-Orthodox and an ultra-Orthodox is greater than the distance between an ultra-Orthodox and a secular.
Is it possible to include the members of the Jerusalem faction along with the Lithuanian public?
Naturi Karta belong to me?
They are protesting against me, that I am oppressing Israel.
When there are such groups, which are not small, the media comes, and people like Yvette Lieberman come, and add oil to the fire, why?
Because we are Netanyahu's partners. "
For a long time we saw weddings and funerals with ultra-Orthodox. It is not possible to say that these are just extremists.
" When Rabbi Bakshi Doron, one of the greatest and most important rabbis, died at the beginning of the corona, there were few people at his funeral.
The Western Wall, which is usually full to capacity before Yom Kippur, was empty.
And all this about 500 meters away there is a demonstration of thousands against the prime minister.
But it is allowed, to that the media has given full backing.
"If you do a mental arithmetic of the last year, you have to remember how in the first wave there was total, absolute discipline. Why was it broken? The main reason is the demonstrations in Balfour. It broke everything, people did not understand how you tell them not to pray more than ten people outside. "And in Balfour thousands are demonstrating. The demonstrations unraveled everything, that was the fault line. The followers who went to Tishim said they were going to the demonstration."
Rabbi Kanievsky is not a fringe of the ultra-Orthodox public.
"And everyone is saying today how right he was. I'm not criticizing or talking about Rabbi Kanievsky. I think everything that was misunderstood. The rabbi talked about the terrible pain and the severe consequences for the youth, and people interpreted it as if he was rebelling against the state. And look at the hypocrisy. "The big one - when 15 mayors called for a revolt and the return of seventh-tenth grades, contrary to the instructions, all the channels supported them. Suddenly it was not a revolt, it was legitimate."
Why did you oppose the Fines Law?
After all, if you follow the guidelines, you do not receive fines.
"We did not oppose the law on fines for weddings, large events and gatherings. We said we opposed imposing a fine on a school, on children studying Torah because their rabbi told them to study Torah."
This is not a fine for children, this is a fine for an institution that violates guidelines.
"Fine fines of NIS 5,000 were given. They wanted to increase. We thought that comparing a Talmud Torah with several children to a wedding of 1,000 people in the Arab sector was disproportionate. But Blue and White made a big deal out of it, made it a flag against the ultra-Orthodox. They wanted to quarrel with the Netanyahu. It was a populist move. "
- Lieberman has attacked the ultra-Orthodox at every opportunity in the past year.
"Lieberman has no atonement for what he does on the issue of the ultra-Orthodox. Neither in this world nor in the next."
He's in an election campaign.
This is his campaign.
"Is this a campaign? No boundaries? Is this? Everything is allowed? Is it called a campaign?"
* * *
Five years ago, an affair broke out that linked Deri to bribery and government corruption.
Three months ago, the Attorney General decided not to charge him with these offenses, and to settle for tax offenses.
Last week, Deri's lawyers appeared before Mandelblit for a hearing on the matter.
"We are entering the sixth year of this investigation," he says.
"I am glad that the ombudsman cleared me of all the offenses of chastity, not simple offenses, which have personally harmed me significantly.
I carried it on me, I continued to function as usual, I did not speak a word, I said I trust the systems, that will do their job.
"I am glad that I did not make a mistake, and that the ombudsman removed these issues. I am also convinced regarding the tax offenses, following my testimony to the police and the things that my lawyers will present, that this case will also be closed."
This time there was no "he is entitled" or "I blame" campaign.
"I did not want to run it that way. I have government ministries to run, I have traffic to run."
Even then you had.
What has changed?
"Age, Proportions."
And tax matters remained.
"I do not underestimate them, I do not underestimate anything, even a traffic offense is serious. A law is a law. I believe the explanations my lawyers gave at the hearing will be satisfactory."
* * *
The
High Court was wrong 15 years ago, in fact the fact that it decided to discuss the issue. This is an issue that the Supreme Court must not discuss at all - a value issue, political. The Knesset is the only one that should decide on the matter, "And she decided that there was a state conversion in the State of Israel. A few years ago, the court legalized Orthodox conversions that were made in the country, and it was clear that it was doing so in order to train reform later."
Their ability to make a decision in the Knesset in these 15 years.
"I heard Gideon Saar say that the prime minister did not make a decision regarding conversion due to paralysis against the ultra-Orthodox. But those who stuck it are Lieberman, Bennett and Kahlon. We have already passed a government decision stating that in the State of Israel there will only be state conversion. Tzohar rabbis. The ultra-Orthodox did not prevent decisions on the matter. We came with the most reasonable position, which says that the State of Israel will handle its conversions, just as the Ministry of Health determines who is a doctor and as the Ministry of Justice determines who is a lawyer.
"The court's second mistake was a few months ago.
I addressed them as Minister of the Interior, and the Prime Minister joined me in requesting that they not make a decision on the matter, because we are in an election period, and it is impossible to legislate a law now.
It was fitting that the court should not decide now and let us resolve it after the formation of the next government.
"By no means in the world can there be a Reform conversion here. Conversion is a halakhic, non-civil issue, and there is only one halakhah. Reform conversion has no meaning. You can be a good citizen, serve in the army, be a Righteous Among the Nations - but to be a Jew is only if You were born to a Jewish mother or were converted correctly. This is not a matter for the High Court at all.
"I promised that the first action taken in the next Knesset would be to enact a state conversion law. It has a great compromise, because it also prevents the ultra-Orthodox courts from converting."
* * *
How involved is your wife in the campaign?
"My wife and daughters are constantly fleeing politics. She heads educational institutions' happy enterprises', girls' schools, and she is busy there. When the election period comes, they all enlist for work day and night. They set up the Shas women's headquarters.
My wife travels all over the country until the evening of the election, and then each one goes back to her business. "
So why are there no women on your list?
" In Judaism, women have great respect, and so does ultra-Orthodox society.
Women with us have most of the responsibility, educating the children, the home, and more.
But there are places that even ultra-Orthodox women will not want to enter, and one of them is political life.
These are our lifestyles, this is what the rabbis command us, and this is how we behave. "
How are your wife and children coping with the attacks on you?
"They are strong. They know what is the truth, what is the main thing and what is the treatment."
What's the biggest mistake you've made in your life?
"The friendship with Avigdor Lieberman."
The biggest success?
"The family, and the Shas movement, which is my second family."
What do you read?
"Very much, I subscribe to our bookstore.
Loves reading books about rabbis.
Now reading a book about Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach. "
What music do you like?
"
Do you
know the song 'Beautiful and Themed'?
It is a piyyut that is sung to me, because I love it, and because my wife is called beautiful. "
Favorite food?
" Simple foods.
Does not connect to the gourmet.
My wife's dishes, original traditional dishes.
Good Shabbat fish, good khomin. "
judadatit@gmail.com
