Shas
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225545910
2008-07-14T06:44:51Z
Redaktor
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Haredi
{{dablink|"Shas" may also refer to the '''Shisha Sedarim''' (six orders) of the [[Mishnah]] and [[Talmud]].}}
{{Infobox_Israeli_Political_Party |
party_name = Shas |
colorcode = #013068 |
party_logo = [[Image:Shas logo.png|Shas party logo]] |
leader = [[Eli Yishai]]|
foundation = [[1984]] <br>by Rabbi [[Ovadia Yosef]] and Rabbi [[Elazar Shach]] |
MPheight = 17 ([[Israeli legislative election, 1999|1999]]) |ar
MPcurrent = 12 (2006) |
ideology = [[Yalkut Yosef]] <br>[[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi Judaism]] <br>[[Populism]] |
headquarters = [[Jerusalem]] |
international = Various Sephardi Batei Dinim |
european = |
colours = |
website = [http://www.shasnet.org.il shasnet.org.il] |
}}
'''Shas''' ({{lang-he|ש״ס}}) is a [[List of political parties in Israel|political party]] in [[Israel]], primarily representing [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]] and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] [[Judaism]]. Following the [[Israeli legislative election, 2006|2006 elections]] in which Shas won 12 seats, it joined [[Ehud Olmert]]'s coalition government and holds four cabinet posts. Its current leader, [[Eli Yishai]], is one of four deputy prime ministers.
==History==
Shas was founded in [[1984]] prior to the [[Israeli legislative election, 1984|elections]] in the same year, through the merger of regional lists established in 1983 and was originally known as '''The Worldwide Sephardic Association of Torah Keepers''' ({{lang-he|התאחדות הספרדים העולמית שומרי תורה}}, ''Hitahdut HaSfaradim HaOlamit Shomrei Torah''). The party was formed under the leadership of [[Rabbi]] [[Ovadia Yosef]] (a former Israeli [[Chief rabbi]]), who remains its spiritual leader today. In founding the party, Rabbi Yosef received strategic help and guidance from Rabbi [[Elazar Shach]] (1898-2001), the leader of Israel's non-Hasidic Haredi [[Ashkenazi Jews]] (known as the "[[Mitnagdim]]" by some.)
The party was mired in scandal after the indictment and subsequent conviction and imprisonment of its former party leader, [[Aryeh Deri]], on corruption charges in 1999. While Rabbi Yosef distanced the party from Deri and installed Yishai as the new party head, many Shas voters saw Deri as the victim of a discriminatory political witch-hunt and continue to support him.
Following Deri's conviction, Shas gained 17 seats in the [[Israeli legislative election, 1999|1999 elections]], its strongest showing since its formation. Although 26 seats were projected for the following election had they run in 2001, instead Shas was reduced to 11 seats in the [[Israeli legislative election, 2003|2003 election]] because the two-ballot system was amended. In the [[Israeli legislative election, 2006|2006 elections]] it gained one more seat and joined [[Ehud Olmert]]'s [[Government of Israel|coalition government]], alongside [[Kadima]], [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor]], [[Gil (political party)|Gil]] and between October 2006 and January 2008, [[Yisrael Beiteinu]]. In the current government, Shas party leader Yishai is Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, and [[Deputy leaders of Israel#Deputy Prime Minister|Deputy Prime Minister]] whilst [[Ariel Atias]] is Minister of Communications, and [[Meshulam Nahari]] and [[Yitzhak Cohen]] are [[Minister Without Portfolio|Ministers without Portfolio]].
==Ideology==
Shas is a strong advocate of [[Halakha]] playing a pivotal role and providing a fulcrum for the operation of the state and its identity, such as laws prohibiting various activities on the [[Shabbat]]. Shas has a socially conservative agenda, while also supporting generous welfare payments, especially for yeshiva students, as well as supporting a steadfast militant [[Baal Teshuva]] movement. Its policy toward the [[Arab]]s has been relatively flexible, although it generally supports the [[Greater Israel]] consolidation movement united under the crown of the Mizrahi Torah, in accordance to Ha[[Maran]] Rabbi [[Ovadia Yosef]]'s flexible foreign policy derivatives. They have never taken active measures to support the [[Gush Emunim]] movement and do not strongly favor the [[Israeli settlement]]s, on which they are closer in policy to [[Agudat Yisrael]] than the [[Tkuma]] or [[Jewish National Front]].
Shas has at times been able to exert disproportionate influence by gaining control of the balance of power in the Knesset within the context of the traditionally narrow margin between Israel's large parties, [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor]] and [[Likud]], now joined by [[Kadima]].
The majority of Shas voters are themselves not ultra-orthodox. Many of its voters are [[Modern Orthodox]] and 'traditional' [[Mizrahi]] and Sephardi Jews. Some [[Druze]] also vote for Shas, due to its alignment with the promotion of an 'authentic Middle Eastern' [[Israeli culture]], which fits well with traditional [[Zionist]] beliefs of a revival of authentic Jewish culture. However, they are still representing, by principle and not practice, their Sephardi and Mizrahi Haredi Jewish Sectors in the [[Knesset]].
==Controversy==
Since 1999, several of Shas's MKs, including [[Aryeh Deri]], [[Raphael Pinhasi]], [[Yair Lev]], [[Ofer Hugi]] and [[Yair Peretz]] have been convicted of offences including fraud and forgery. In addition, elected MK [[Shlomo Benizri]] was convicted of bribery, conspiring to commit a crime and obstruction of justice on [[1 April]] [[2008]].<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/970611.html Benizri: I've been persecuted for 8 years for no fault of my own] Haaretz, 1 April 2008</ref> Benizri subsequently resigned and [[Mazor Bahaina]], number thirteen on the Shas list, replaced him.
==Current Knesset members==
Twelve Shas candidates were elected to the 17th Knesset:
#[[Eli Yishai]]
#[[Yitzhak Cohen]]
#[[Amnon Cohen]]
#[[Meshulam Nahari]]
#[[Ariel Atias]]
#[[Shlomo Benizri]] (replaced by [[Mazor Bahaina]] in May 2008)
#[[David Azoulay]]
#[[Yitzhak Vaknin]]
#[[Nissim Ze'ev]]
#[[Yaakov Margi]]
#[[Emil Amsalem]]
#[[Avraham Michaeli]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.shasnet.org.il Official website] {{he icon}}
*[http://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=2 Shas] Knesset website
{{Israeli political parties}}
{{OrthodoxJudaism}}
[[Category:Political parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Haredi Judaism in Israel]]
[[Category:Zionist political parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Orthodox Jewish political parties]]
[[Category:Sephardi Jews topics]]
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