page_title: Ovadia Yosef
section_title: Government influence
hierarchical_section_title: Ovadia Yosef / Attitude towards the State of Israel and its citizens / Political activity / Government influence
caption_attribution_description: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
context_page_description: Ovadia Yosef was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Yosef's responsa were highly regarded within Haredi circles, particularly among Mizrahi communities, among whom he was regarded as "the most important living halakhic authority".
  On occasion, Yosef made statements relating to various groups and individuals which were deemed controversial by his critics. In response, supporters of Yosef claimed he was misquoted or his words taken out of context. What has been called "hate speech" on his part has been condemned by the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.
context_section_description: In 1990, Yosef used his position as Shas spiritual leader to pressure Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir into agreeing to hold negotiations with Arab states for a peaceful settlement of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Shamir, a member of the Likud Party, refused to make any commitments.
  According to one biography of the rabbi, Ben Porat Yosef, the relationship between the two had never been comfortable because of Shamir's unstudious personality. As a way of gaining a character analysis of politicians, Yosef had invited both Shamir and Shimon Peres to learn Talmud with him. While Peres proved an engaging and fluid learner, Shamir was stoic toward the material, a trait that led Yosef to instead use one of Shamir's cabinet members, Housing and Construction Minister David Levy, as his key partner in dealing with the Likud. Levy had a relatively warm relationship with the rabbi due to his moderate approach to Israel's security and foreign affairs policies, his charismatic personality, and his connection with Sephardi traditions (Levy, a Moroccan, was the highest ranking Sephardi politician in the 1980s).
  In 1990, Rav Yosef pulled Shas out of the coalition with the Likud and attempted to form a partnership with Peres's left-centre Labour Party. The bold move, engineered but opposed by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, backfired when the highly respected Ashkenazi rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Elazar Shach (who subsequently founded the Degel HaTorah party) fiercely commanded Yosef to return Shas to the coalition with the Likud. During this time, Yosef was severely criticised by other major members of the Haredi religious community in Israel, particular the Ashkenazic Jews who generally sided with the Likud and the right in opposition to the perceived secularist tendencies of Labour and the left.
  The failure of the scheme, known as the stinking trick, was responsible for Peres' downfall as leader of Labour, and his 1991 defeat in internal elections to former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin. From the 1980s until his death, Yosef approved the participation by Shas in most Israeli governments, except for the last two governments of Ariel Sharon from January 2003 and August 2005. In that Knesset (2003-2006), Shas was one of the few parties to have been in the opposition for the duration of that Knesset's term, along with the leftist Meretz party and the Arab factions Ra'am (United Arab List), Hadash, and Balad. This was largely because of the rise of Shinui to the powerful third party position, a position that was previously held by Shas. Shinui demanded the creation of a government without Shas.
  In the 2007 Israeli Presidential election, Yosef endorsed his long-time friend Shimon Peres, who ultimately won the election due in part to the support of Shas's 12 MKs.
caption: Ovadia Yosef in 2007
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