Shas worries it will be excluded from next government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he prefers a Likud member as housing and construction minister, rather than a Shas member, as at present • Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: Our man worked day and night; the Likud ministers before him just sat at home and smoked water pipes.

Yehuda Shlezinger

Netanyahu's words on Saturday make a second term as Housing and Construction Minister look less likely for MK Ariel Atias (Shas). | Photo credit: Oren Nachson

The Shas party was displeased with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement on Saturday that he would prefer having a Likud member as housing and construction minister in the next government, a position held in the current government by Shas MK Ariel Atias.

Netanyahu's statement caused some in Shas to worry that the party would be excluded from a future coalition.

"Netanyahu knows that we want to keep the housing and construction portfolio for Shas," a senior party official said. "We aren't sure whether this statement was a one-time thing or whether the prime minister intends to build a government without Shas."

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef also responded to Netanyahu's statement, saying, "They [Likud members] were always the housing and construction ministers, and they didn't do anything. They sat at home, smoking water pipes. Our housing and construction minister worked day and night." 

Politicians from across the spectrum have previously accused Shas of favoring its ultra-Orthodox constituency, using the housing and construction ministry to ensure housing projects for Shas voters took priority over those for the rest of the population.