Eliyahu "Eli" Yishai (; born 26 December 1962) is an Israeli politician. A former leader of
Shas
Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...
, he represented the party in the Knesset from 1996 until 2015, also holding several ministerial posts, including being
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
,
Minister of Internal Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
, and Minister of Industry, Trade, and
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
. In December 2014, he left Shas to establish the
Yachad party.
Personal life
Yishai was born in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
in 1962, to Zion (1933–2004) and Yvette-Fortuna Yishai (1934–2009), who had immigrated to Israel from
Tunis
Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
in
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
. The second of seven children, he studied at the
Porat Yosef Yeshiva in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, and Yeshivat HaNegev in
Netivot. In 1980, Yishai enlisted in the IDF and served until 1983.
Yishai is married, and has five children.
Political career
Shas
In 1984, he entered political life. He became a member of Jerusalem City Council in 1987, although he left the council the following year. In 1988, Yishai served as an aide to
Aryeh Deri
Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (; ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician and one of the founders of the Shas political party who served as the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and Minister ...
who was then Minister of Internal Affairs. Although Yishai did not win a seat in the Knesset in the
1992 election, he was appointed the general secretary of Shas. He was first elected to the
Knesset
The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel.
The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
in the
1996 elections, after which he was made
Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
's government.
He retained his seat in the
1999 elections, and was again appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...
's government. In 2000, Shas leader Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence. Deri was replaced by Yishai as head of the party. Although Deri's sentence was only for three years, the court ruled that he be banned from entering politics for ten years. As leader of Shas, Yishai was seen as a political hawk and steered the party to the right of where it had been under Deri. Yishai tried to recruit voters from the settlements and took the party out of
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...
's coalition government in advance of the
Camp David summit with
Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
in 2000.
After
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006.
Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...
defeated Barak in the
2001 elections for Prime Minister, Yishai was appointed
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
and made a
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
in Sharon's
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...
. However, Shas were not included in Ariel Sharon's coalition government formed after the
2003 elections.
Following the
2006 elections, Shas were invited to join
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009.
The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...
's coalition, and Yishai was made Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labour, as well as
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
. In the same year, he was subjected to criticism after he claimed that negative results from the
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
were a consequence of soldiers not being as religiously observant as they were in the past. Yishai remained Deputy Prime Minister following the
2009 elections, and returned to the Internal Affairs portfolio.
In May 2009, he refused to allow the
Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
to exercise jurisdiction over Christian holy sites in Israel, an agreement which would have resolved disputes over the implementation of the 1993
Fundamental Accord. That November, Yishai argued that African refugee migrants to Israel should not be allowed to settle permanently in Israel because they bring in "a range of diseases such as hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis and AIDS."
However, ''
The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...
'' reviewed Ministry of Health data, and concluded that there was a relatively low infection rate among asylum-seekers.
In a June 2012 interview with the Israeli daily ''
Maariv
''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''.
The service will often begin with two ...
'', Yishai said: "Muslims that arrive here do not even believe that this country belongs to us, to the white man."
In November 2012, during
Operation Pillar of Defense, he was quoted by ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'' as saying: "The goal of the operation is to send
Gaza back to the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, only then will Israel be calm for the next 40 years."
In May 2013, some months after the internal rift following Deri's political comeback, Yishai was ousted as party leader, being replaced by Deri.
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef (, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) also known as Maran (Hebrew language, Hebrew: מרן) "Our Master", was an History of the Jews in Iraq#Otoman rule, Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, hakham, posek, and the Sephardi Jews, Sephar ...
, the
Sephardi sage and Shas spiritual leader, said regarding his decision to oust Yishai: "It was a deposit that he held, and now he can redeem it." Yosef also said he had told Deri at the time of his imprisonment that the position of party leader would be returned to him.
Yachad
In December 2014, Yishai announced that he would be leaving Shas to establish a new religious party, which would run in the
2015 elections
Africa
* 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015
* 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015
* 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015
* 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015
* 2015-16 Central African gene ...
. The announcement came after the friction between Deri and Yishai reached breaking point; Nine of Shas' eleven government ministers signed a statement indicating their support for Deri, and Shas' Council of Torah Sages ordered Deri to cancel a weekend meeting with Yishai during which the two planned to attempt a reconciliation.
The new party was named
Yachad, and contested the 2015 elections in alliance with the far-right
Otzma Yehudit party. However, it received only 2.97% of the vote, failing to cross the 3.25%
electoral threshold
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature.
This limit can operate in various ...
, and did not win any seats.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yishai, Eli
1962 births
Living people
City councillors of Jerusalem
Israeli Orthodox Jews
Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent
Jewish Israeli politicians
Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999)
Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003)
Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006)
Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009)
Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013)
Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015)
Ministers of internal affairs of Israel
Politicians from Jerusalem
Shas leaders