Deri on the Arrests of Yeshiva Students: “It’s All Because of the Wicked Attorney General”

Shas chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri launched a fierce attack today, Thursday, against the arrests of Torah students, calling them “a great indictment of the Jewish people.” Deri referred to his visit to Prison 10, where he met the detainees, and responded to critics who claimed he had visited “draft evaders.” He rejected the claims outright and said, “May God have mercy! Ash to their mouths.”

Deri also did not spare criticism of the attorney general and the judges of the High Court of Justice, whom he called “the wicked attorney general and the High Court justices, the ‘supremes,’ who persecute the world of Torah.” In addition, the Shas chairman sharply attacked Knesset members from Likud and Religious Zionism, and expressed surprise that “they have a kippah on their heads” and are “the ones leading the sanctions and persecution against the world of Torah.”

Referring to the Basic Law on Torah study, which was approved yesterday, Deri stressed its enormous importance. “The Basic Law on Torah study says that Torah students make a significant contribution to the Jewish people,” he said. He added that there was no need to legislate such a law at all, comparing it to passing a law on circumcision, something that should be self-evident for the existence of the people.