Former Sephardi Chief Rabbi given greater control over Shas party after ‘reconciliation’ with leader

Israel’s former Sephardi Chief Rabbi has reportedly been granted effective joint control of Shas, one of the country’s major Charedi political parties, after an apparent reconciliation with its leader, Aryeh Deri. Deri and Yitzhak Yosef were reported to have fallen out last week, with Haaretz citing a yeshiva student who claimed the rabbi had privately urged his pupils not to vote for Shas in the upcoming Knesset elections, scheduled for October 27. The dispute reportedly stemmed from Yosef losing faith in the Netanyahu coalition, of which Shas is a part, after it failed to pass legislation to fully exempt yeshiva students from IDF conscription. Such an exemption, which had been in place for eight decades before it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2024, is one of the most divisive issues in Israeli politics and is expected to be a major part of the pre-election debate.