Deri Hopes Not to Run

Aides close to Shas star Aryeh Deri say his bid to become mayor of Jerusalem is really only a ploy to regain the leadership of the Shas Party he helped found.

Deri, the former long-time Shas Party leader whose career came to an abrupt end when he was convicted and jailed for bribery, announced recently his plans to run for mayor of Jerusalem.  This put a monkey-wrench in the plans of MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism), who had planned to be the only hareidi-religious candidate and thus handily defeat secular candidate Nir Barkat.

Porush has not quit, however, and is far from sure that Deri will actually run.  For one thing, Deri must overcome a legal obstacle currently preventing him from submitting his candidacy.  Specifically, the law says that one cannot assume public office within seven years after completing a jail term for an offense termed one of "moral turpitude." Deri left prison six years ago.

Deri has also filed for permission from the head of the Central Elections Board, former Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Rivlin, to waive the seven-year requirement.  He claims that the law at the time he was convicted stipulated only a six-year cooling off period.  Deri has stated that if Rivlin turns him down, he will turn to President Shimon Peres, his former political ally, for redress.  The Supreme Court might be asked to weigh in on the matter as well.

Sources quoted in the Makor Rishon newspaper say that Deri neither expects to be allowed to run, nor hopes to.  They say he merely wants the publicity and status-raising in order to bolster his position as he prepares his bid to take over the Shas Party leadership in time for the next national elections.  Deri, who enjoys great popularity among the Sephardic population, will be able to say that his aborted mayoral bid was the result of ongoing Asheknazi persecution and prejudice against the Sephardim.

Meretz Objects on Moral Grounds

In addition, left-wing Meretz Party city councilman Pepe Alelo has asked Rivlin to deny Deri's request - on moral grounds. Alelo said that the candidacy of one who was "convicted of serious offenses" would be "not just a legal problem, but a problem of values and morals that could cause Israeli society and public life to crumble."

Porush, Barkat - and Lupoliansky

Candidate Porush is thus not yet folding his cards.  It is even likely that Deri's possible rise and withdrawal will ultimately help the Porush campaign, leaving Porush as the indisputable lone religious candidate.

Porush has also not ignored the secular public, and even held an "internet press conference" for the secular public on Tuesday. 

Barkat is also not biding his time.  He is building his support among the religious-Zionist public in the city, attending, for instance, the memorial ceremony for Rabbi Avraham Shapira at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav this week.  The religious and/or right-wing public is likely to bring up Deri's left-wing politics - he is assumed to have helped the original Oslo Accords pass in the Knesset - as well as the Oslo fence-sitting of Porush's party as well.

A fourth possibility can also not be ruled out: Though incumbent Mayor Uri Lupoliansky, of the Degel HaTorah faction of United Torah Judaism (UTJ), has already announced that he will not run again - because of an inter-UTJ rotation agreement made prior to the last elections, five years ago - it is possible that he will become a compromise candidate in place of both Deri and Porush.

Municipal elections in Jerusalem, and in most Israeli cities, are scheduled for Nov. 11.

Egged to End Meretz Ad Campaign

The Egged bus company has announced that it would stop hosting a Meretz ad campaign on its buses, in response to a request to this effect by MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz.  The ads call for an "end to the hareidi-zation of Jerusalem," and call implicitly upon the secular public to actively support the secular candidate.

Ravitz also asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to investigate whether the ad campaign does not violate anti-incitement and racism laws.