Yishai: Lapid should become religious, join Shas

"Bring Yair to the City of David, you'll see he'll also become religious join Shas," Yishai jibes at J'lem conference.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Eli Yishai 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Eli Yishai 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
If Yair Lapid visits the City of David, he will become religious and join Shas, Interior Minister Eli Yishai joked at an Israeli Zionist Council and World Zionist Organization event on Friday.
Yishai slammed the columnist- turned-politician, who said that Shas has the country “wrapped around its finger,” at the opening event of a conference of mayors affiliated with the Zionist organizations, which took place in the City of David.
The interior minister also emphasized the importance of the archaeological park, and called for all Israeli youth to visit the site, because “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and expresses the deep roots of the Jewish people in its land.”
The Shas leader’s quip about Lapid was a continuation of reactions by his party following Lapid’s criticism in a speech on Thursday night.
The Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party mocked Lapid for “risking his life for his country during his army service at Bamachane,” the IDF magazine.
A Shas spokesman pointed out that Lapid does not have a high school matriculation certificate, saying in a statement that his education is “lower than what can be achieved in Shas Educational Network schools,” and that the public is intelligent enough to recognize that he is trying to “blind them with verbal trickery.”
On Thursday, Lapid presented his political agenda at a conference in Eilat, saying that he plans to represent the middle class. The former Channel 2 news anchor, talk-show host and newspaper columnist said that the ultra- Orthodox, Arabs, tycoons and corrupt politicians are holding the state hostage.