Eli Yishai
Eli YishaiIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Shas MK Eli Yishai responded Monday to Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s speech in Knesset berating hareidi-religious MKs and accusing them of bearing responsibility for the deficit.

“I heard Lapid’s speech this evening,” Yishai wrote on Facebook. “I wanted to apologize to you, and to the entire nation: I am responsible for Israel’s deficit!”

“Over the course of the years I, my family, my friends and neighbors, and the entirety of hareidi society took money illegally from the public purse,” he wrote.

“Who do you think funded my trips abroad? The five-star hotels that all the hareidi Jews stay in? The Mercedes in the parking lot? It’s all at your expense,” he said sarcastically.

“Yair, my friend, your slick, arrogant speech has led me to confess everything,” he continued. “How did you manage to reveal so quickly what we tried to conceal, and to hide under various strange and inflated clauses related to defense, benefits for various industries and taxes and the like?”

“We almost got away with it, and then you came today and revealed that we are essentially the rich ones in the country,” he concluded.