Shas Recommends Netanyahu to Form Israel's Government

Shas said its Council of Torah Sages has decided to recommend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the President of Israel as its candidate to form the government. The decision came after Netanyahu restated his support for regulating the status of Torah scholars and his commitment to doing so.

Shas will back Netanyahu as its candidate for prime minister. The Jerusalem Post described Shas in September as a Sephardi chareidi party founded in 1984.

Shas made the recommendation after Netanyahu's commitment on Torah scholars, the community at the center of the decision.

The party also leveled sharp criticism at left-wing parties. It accused them of an "unprecedented campaign of vilification, defamation, and persecution against the ultra-Orthodox community and Torah scholars."

The recommendation follows a post-election deadlock. Netanyahu called for a broad national government not dependent on Ra'am and the Joint List. Ra'am and the Joint List are Arab parties, and Netanyahu said they "support terror and deny the existence of the Jewish state." He also stated that "a clear majority of the Jewish public chose Likud as the largest party and me as prime minister to lead the next government." At that point, Shas was consulting with its Council of Torah Sages.

The figures cited at the time put the Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats and the change bloc at 48. Ra'am held 8 seats and the Joint List held 11.

Liberman issued a statement saying "we must prevent another election." He said a "functioning and stable government" could be formed without Ra'am and the Joint List. The same day, Michael Ben Ari dismissed talk of a left-wing government with the chareidi parties, calling it suicide for Shas. He argued that Aryeh Deri would not take that step. "Deri already halved Shas in the last election," Ben Ari said. "If he wants to finish off Shas completely, then he'll go into a Liberman-Golan government."