Arye Deri leaves Knesset seat after Shas election loss
The party chairman will stay in his leadership role while younger members take his place in parliament.
By Aiko Nakamura ·
Arye Deri announced on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the Shas party list and will not serve as a member of the 26th Knesset.
The head of the haredi Shas party confirmed he is stepping down from his parliamentary seat while keeping his position as party chairman. He will continue to oversee the party's direction and its coalition negotiations. This decision follows the party's poor performance in the October 27 election, where Shas secured only six seats. This result is down from the 11 seats the party held in the previous Knesset and represents its lowest total in more than 20 years.
MK Yinon Azoulay will now hold the first slot on the party's Knesset slate, replacing Deri. Two other candidates, Dror Amos and Moshe Abutbul, have also reportedly stepped down from the list. Amos had been a notable addition to the slate as a retired IDF lieutenant colonel with 25 years of service. Uriel Busso and Yosef Taieb are next in line and will take the vacant positions.
Deri said in a statement that he requested and received approval from the Council of Torah Sages to give up his place. He described the move as being "in favor of our young representatives, who have already proven themselves in parliamentary work." The announcement comes days after the council rejected Deri's initial request to resign as party leader. The council forbade him from leaving his position in the movement, stating they were confident he would fulfill the sages' will. Deri accepted this directive last week and said he would remain in his post.
Deri plans to travel across the country to strengthen ties with activists and the public. He intends to convene the Shas faction weekly and closely oversee legislative and committee work. The party has faced criticism for its stance on haredi conscription to the IDF amid a severe manpower crisis. Critics argued that the legislation Deri pushed for regarding yeshiva students would not increase conscription given the military's reliance on reservists.
Shas has recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the candidate to form the next government. This stands in contrast to the Ashkenazi haredi party United Torah Judaism, which abstained from recommending a candidate to President Isaac Herzog. Deri has served as Interior, Economy, Negev and Galilee Development, and Health Minister. In 2023, the High Court ruled he was not eligible for the cabinet due to criminal convictions. He was convicted of bribery in 1999 and tax offenses in 2022.
