Shas rabbi insults Yishai’s party

Rabbi Shalom Cohen: "Eli Yishai left us and went to the toilet."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Eli Yishai (photo credit: KNESSET)
Eli Yishai
(photo credit: KNESSET)
Former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s new party, Yahad Ha’am Itanu, is a toilet, Shas mentor Rabbi Shalom Cohen said Friday night.
Cohen spoke about the massive advertising campaign Yishai began over the weekend, after the latter placed ads in several newspapers and on buses in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The advertisements bear a slogan in which Yishai declares his loyalty to the legacy of Cohen’s predecessor as Shas mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
“Eli Yishai left us and went to the toilet,” Cohen said. “He was once loyal, but since he left Shas and went to the toilet, he is no longer loyal.”
Yishai responded to Cohen on Channel 10: “I was educated to respect rabbis, and that is what I will do.”
The rabbi mocked polls that show that Shas may not pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold in the March 17 election.
He said the two word initials that make up Shas’s name are also short for “polls are lies.”
It is not the first time Cohen has called someone a toilet. He used that word to describe former chief rabbi Shlomo Amar at a rally on the anniversary of Yosef’s death.
Despite the insult, Shas ended up supporting Amar in the election for Jerusalem chief rabbi, which he won.
Cohen has also labeled the Bayit Yehudi party “Amalek,” referring to an enemy of the Jewish people who the Torah says must be destroyed. At an event honoring current Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef last year, Cohen called Bayit Yehudi MK Eli Ben-Dahan’s title of deputy religious affairs minister “a potty that babies dirty and you put on your head.”
Meanwhile, Channel 10 reported that former Channel 1 anchorman Yinon Magal was in negotiations with Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett to receive a reserved slot on the party’s list. Dr Anat Roth, a former spokeswoman of Hatnua MK Amram Mitzna, and educator Yehudit Sheilat announced they were running with Bayit Yehudi.
Former Beit Shemesh mayoral candidate Eli Cohen said he would not seek a Knesset seat with the party. January 7 is the last day to declare candidacy for Bayit Yehudi’s January 17 primary.