Posted on 08/03/2004 9:30:44 AM PDT by anotherview
Yishai says “Lapid needs a psychiatrist”
Shas opens new front against Shinui head, accuses him of racism. Denies campaign related to coalition talks and fact Lapid agreed to serve with UTJ.
Yifat Zohar
Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai.
Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai has declared a concerted campaign against Shinui Chairman and Justice Minister Yossef Lapid. “I recommend that the minister of health send the chief psychiatrist to examine the chairman of Shinui, Minister Yossef Lapid “, Yishai declared on Tuesday.
At a meeting of Shas activists, Yishai said that the campaign would begin in the coming days and continue until the elections, whenever they might be. He explained, “A person suffering from panic, who seems unable to focus and who is unable to choose his words should not continue as a member of the government. I pity him. It seems that his intellectual abilities have been damaged. His policy gives the people a very dangerous feeling of deja vu”.
For the last few days, Shas has been organizing MKs and local activists for an intensive campaign against Lapid, which will initially focus on the northern region. A grassroots effort is planned rather than large rallies in Yad Eliyahu or other stadiums.
Sources in Shas denied that the new campaign is related to the coalition negotiations and the fact that Lapid agreed to sit in the government with United Torah judaism, under certain conditions, but not to sitting with Shas. They did however respond to that development and attributed it to “Lapid’s racism”. They continued, “We want people to understand that Lapid’s attempt to delegitimatize us is just as dangerous as their empty refrigerator”.
This morning, a few hours after Maariv's breaking story yesterday on Shinui's decision to relent and join a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, the latter announced it was unwilling to join a government that includes Shinui.
Sharon, apparently not willing to relinquish Shinui, is expected to warn UTJ that excluding Shinui and its chairman, Yossef Lapid, would prompt him to form a strictly secular coalition. "We succeeded in convincing Shinui to soften, and we'll succeed in convincing UTJ as well", sources close to Sharon said.
UTJ, the officials stressed, would have to choose between the two options – a government with the ultra-Orthodox or a government without them.
(2004-08-03 18:16:09.0)
Racism (a charge of) the last refuge of a scoundrel !
Shas is made of Orthodox Sephardic Jews, while UTJ is made of Orthodox European Jews. It's an old political and religious tension.
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