No Clear Word on MK Guetta Resignation

Jerusalem, 14 September, 2017 (TPS) -- A day after MK Yigal Guetta (Shas) announced that he would resign from the Knesset after telling Army Radio that he attended a same-sex wedding for a nephew two years ago, sources close to the party say that no final decision has been made about Guetta’s future in parliament.

Rabbi Shalom Cohen, the rosh yeshiva of the Porat Yosef Yeshiva in the Old City who has served as spiritual advisor to the party since the death of founder Ovadia Yosef in 2013, has pushed strongly for Guetta’s removal, telling Kol Barama radio Thursday that Guetta’s admission last week made him even more sad than the news that his (Cohen’s) wife had died.

But Cohen’s view is far from unanimous, both in the Shas political echelon and amongst the party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages: Rabbi Shimon Ba’adani, a member of the Council, reportedly opposes removing Guetta, as does party chairman MK Aryeh Deri.

Guetta, Shas’ secretary general, has served in the Knesset since 2016 and is considered a close ally of Deri.

Guetta set off a firestorm in the Haredi media last week with his admission that he had attended the ceremony and even declared the event a “mandatory attendance” event for his family. However, he specified to his children that the marriage was in violation of the Torah.