Aryeh Deri has traveled a long road back to the leadership of Shas, yet, while the seat and the title may look familiar, it’s a wiser and warier Deri, struggling to keep his party relevant
NEW MAN The prison doors slammed shut behind him but the singing and dancing continued. Would the crowds wait it out together with him? “I don’t have that much time to think about these things but I admit that it’s an extraordinary story. I was chased out of here and nearly buried and Hashem has allowed me to come back here and do it all over again” (Photos: Lior Mizrachi Flash90)
I t was the day before Pesach and the halls of Israel’s Interior Ministry were empty politicians and staffers gone home to prepare for the chag.
But in the large office on the second floor no one was pulling out early. Empty energy-drink cans lined the table — steady cigarette breaks did little to diffuse the tension in the room.
It’s a new world said an intense young man chewing on a pen. People don’t come to events they can watch online. It’s not like it was. It will be an epic failure.
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