Deri asked to quit after Shas fell to 6 seats; rabbis reportedly told him to stay

Aryeh Deri, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, asked the party's Council of Torah Sages to release him from the leadership following last week's general election, in which Shas won only six seats. The Times of Israel, citing Hebrew media reports on Wednesday, said Deri had made the request after Shas dropped from 11 seats in 2022 to its weakest showing since 1992.

By Wednesday evening, Ynet reported that the council had decided, by consulting over the phone, that Deri would remain chairman of the movement. According to Ynet, two council members declined to sign a letter backing him, and it remained unclear whether Deri would keep his seat in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Other outlets described the day differently, as set out below.

Conflicting accounts of the council's handling

The reports do not agree on whether, when or how the council met. Political commentator Amit Segal wrote on Telegram on Wednesday morning that the council would take up Deri's request that day, and predicted the outcome would be Deri leaving the Knesset while staying on as party chairman.

The Times of Israel reported that some outlets expected the council to convene on Wednesday, but noted that Ynet had said at one point that the session would be put off until Friday because a council member was out of the country.

Haaretz, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, reported that the council called off a Wednesday meeting on Deri's future after he responded angrily to its decision to convene. Haaretz framed Deri as fighting to keep his position, which sits uneasily with reports that he himself had asked to step aside.

Ynet's later account, that the council ruled by phone rather than in a formal sitting, may reconcile some of these versions, but the outlets have not said so themselves.

What Shas and its Council of Torah Sages are

Shas is the political party of Israel's ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, Sephardic community, meaning Jews whose families trace their roots largely to North Africa and the Middle East. Unlike most Israeli parties, it does not choose its leader through a membership vote. Final authority rests with the Council of Torah Sages, a body of senior rabbis whose rulings bind the party on political as well as religious questions. That is why Deri's request went to the council rather than to party members or its Knesset faction.

The Times of Israel reported that Channel 13 and Kan, the public broadcaster, had said senior Shas figures, among them the party's senior spiritual leader and former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, were looking to replace Deri. The Times of Israel also said Deri had not been seen in public since the election.

The election result

Deri is one of the longest-serving figures in Israeli politics and has led Shas for many years. Ynet noted that this is not the first time the council has kept him in place, and that it did so this time despite the party's slide to six seats. The Times of Israel described the outcome as the party's worst in decades.

The question of Deri's future has arisen at the same moment as the formal process of forming a new government. After an election, Israel's president holds consultations at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, where each party's representatives say which lawmaker they recommend to form a coalition. At those meetings, Ynet reported, Shas lawmaker Malkieli told the president's office that Deri "will continue to lead for many more years."

What the reports do not say

None of the reports includes a public statement from Deri himself, and the council has not published its decision or the letter of support Ynet described. The Times of Israel said it was not clear whether Deri's request reflected pressure from within the party. It is also unresolved whether Deri will give up his Knesset seat, as Segal predicted, or stay on as a lawmaker. The two council members who reportedly refused to sign have not been named, and the reports do not say whether Yitzhak Yosef supported the decision to keep Deri.