Sephardic religious Shas party Chairman Eli Yishai said Wednesday morning that he values the promise by secular Jerusalem Mayor-elect Nir Barkat to keep the religious status quo in the city. Yishai said, "I appreciate it very much... He says it after the elections, and I very much want and lean toward believing him."

"If he didn't mean it, he wouldn't say it after the elections," Yishai said. "He would have said it only before."