Interior Minister Eli Yishai stressed on Monday morning that maverick Shas MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem is no Amalek, the biblical nemesis to the Jewish people Amsalem was compared to in the recent edition of Shas newspaper
Yom Leyom.
“No Jew should be called Amalek; such sayings are not acceptable,” Yishai told Israel Radio, adding that at his request, the newspaper would make a correction.
RELATED:Reality Check: A bête noire and a heroYishai publicly slams Amsalem; MK appointed bodyguardA complaint to the Tel Aviv police filed Thursday over threats and incitement to violence as implied in the Yom Leyom article, as well as write a letter to State Attorney Moshe Lador and Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein asking that they order a criminal investigation into the implicit incitement to violence in the newspaper, has yet to be addressed by the law enforcement agencies.
Yishai further said that claiming haredim do not seek vocational
training and join the employment force is slander of an entire movement
that encourages working, referring to part of Amsalem's critique of
their movement which helped bring to his ousting by the Shas Council of
Torah Sages. Amsalem remains firm in his refusal to abide with the
decision.
The minister also said that Shas's stance, backed by head of the council
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is to encourage those who are not Torah scholars to
seek employment. What is preventing more haredim from joining the
work-force is the fact that the Finance Ministry is not allocating
enough funds to help them get jobs, Yishai noted.