First, there was two-bit actress Tiki Dayan who claimed that Likud voters (historically the underpriviledged and those of North African and Middle Eastern descent) are "riffraff. They are a different people. Speak to them in a way that they will understand."
Second, there was the campaign by Yisrael Ba'Aliya aimed at wresting control of the Interior Ministry from Shas. The "Shas Kontrol" vs. "Nash Kontrol" campaign (Nash being the initials of party leader Natan Sharansky) added to the anti-Sephardi sentiment that prevails since the campaign began, and asked voters to decide which they preferred controlling the Interior Ministry. That ministry determines how to classify citizens of Israel, including the all-important Russian Immigrants, a large percentage of whom are not Jewish.
Third, during the final week of the campaign, the far-left Meretz party launched a campaign asking voters whether they wanted Shas or Meretz to be the third largest party in the Knesset. Both had similar representation in the previous Knesset, and Meretz tried to capitalize on this anti-Sephardi sentiment and gain strength at their expense. Again, they asked the voters to decide.
In the end the voters did decide, quite openly, that Shas is their preferred choice. Yisrael Ba'aliya lost one seat in the Knesset. They may only get to retain one ministry of the two that they held in the last government. And that ministry is likely to be immigration. Meretz gained one seat on the power of a vote-sharing agreement with One Israel. They still have less representation than they did in the last Rabin administration.
And Shas, which had only six seats under Rabin, and ten in the last Knesset, now has seventeen. They stand to get four ministries and possibly the ambassadorship to France, and are likely to chair at least three Knesset committees. Furthermore, Shas is clearly in the political ascendancy, while the two larger parties are declining. Likud has only two seats more than Shas, and after the next elections, may well end up behind Shas in the standings.
So the "riffraff" voter decided. And the response of the challengers? Tiki Dayan is a four-letter word in Labour circles now. Ehud Barak has very wisely eaten her words, and is now working diligently to get Shas into the coalition and assure the half-million Shas voters that their voices do matter, and that they are being understood.
But Yisrael Ba'Aliya and Meretz are a different story. Yisrael Ba'Aliya is still demanding the Interior Ministry and is even blocking a compromise offer to have One Israel MK Chaim Ramon appointed Interior Minister. This is because Ramon and former Shas leader Aryeh Deri are close friends, and Yisrael Ba'Aliya fears a continued Shas influence in the Ministry. Barak has now offered to appoint a Shas deputy-minister to work with whomever the minister turns out to be.
What is likely to happen is that Yisrael Ba'Aliyah will be forced to give up the immigration ministry if they get the interior ministry. Immigration will then be given to Shas as a replacement, and the issue of non-Jewish immigrants will be taken out of the Interior Ministry's control and blocked by the Immigration Ministry instead. They won't even make it to the Interior Ministry to get their identity cards in the first place. So either way, Nash Kontrol loses.
Meretz is worse. While Yisrael Ba'Aliya's campaign was based on a real issue that affected its voters, Meretz's campaign (as is becoming increasingly common) is based on nothing but racism and hypocrisy. When the results came in, and it was clear that the voters answered Meretz's challange and trampled them in the process, Meretz leader Yossi Sarid began campaigning against Shas's inclusion in the cabinet. He cited Arye Deri's conviction on charges of accepting bribes and abuse of power, and proclaimed that he would not sit in a coalition with such a criminal. Other criminals, like Yossi Beilin and Yael Dayan (both of whom broke the law in 1992 by meeting with leaders of a terrorist organization) he has no problem joining in the coalition. But embezzling 150,000 dollars is far beyond the pale of Sarid's acceptance.
Last week, Arye Deri resigned from all political positions in the party. Sarid has been very quiet since then, and has refused to answer questions about whether he would now join the coalition. He met with Barak a few times late last week. But then, on Saturday night, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef stated publicly that he thought Deri's resignation was the result of pressure from "evil people". This barb was aimed squarely at Sarid, and Yosef pointedly excluded Barak and his team from its aim.
Since that comment, Sarid refuses to meet with One Israel as long as they are holding negotiations with Shas. Simply because Rav Yosef called Sarid an evil person? Hardly. After all, Sarid is prepared to sit with One Israel leader Ehud Barak, who laughed in response to Tiki Dayan's comments. So apparently vicious name-calling and incitement is okay with Sarid.
Possibly Sarid's refusal has to do with Shas's habit of handing out amulets during election campaigns? Except that this time around it was Shas that caught Meretz handing out amulets. Or perhaps it is because of the "primitive" tendency of the more devoted Shas supporters to kiss the beard of Rabbi Yosef or the kabbalist Rav Kaduri? Well, if Meretz's entire political stand is based on whether or not someone kisses someone else's beard, they deserve to stay on the forgotten outside looking in together with the arch-racist Tommy Lapid and his Shinui party.
For the reality is that the entire basis for Meretz's anti-Shas campaign is racism, pure and simple. They simply cannot abide the fact that there are a half-million people in this country who consider themselves "riffraff" enough to vote for Shas. They cannot bring themselves to sit with a group of people they consider beneath them.
From a party that brands itself as democratic, and supporting greater freedoms for everyone, Meretz takes on a decidedly elitist and segregationist stand when it comes to such a large segment of the population. Democracy is fine, as long as the riffraff don't participate. Freedom is fine, but not for "them".
Ehud Barak billed himself as the "Prime Minister of everyone". As such, he should do himself and this entire country a favour. Bring Shas into the coalition in full strength. Four Ministries out of 18, at least two committee chairs, and the ambassadorship to France. And either give Meretz two lower-level ministries like Science and Health, or leave them out of the coalition altogether.
Copyright 1999. Reproduction in print or electronic format by permission only.
