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Leading Israeli guilty of fraud

Patrick Cockburn
Thursday 18 March 1999 00:02 GMT
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THE LEADER of Israel's third largest party was found guilty of corruption and misuse of government funds yesterday, as his supporters sobbed and shouted angrily outside the court.

Aryeh Deri, once the rising star of Israeli politics and still an important power broker, was found guilty of receiving $167,000 in bribes and diverting funds to favoured institutions when he was interior minister in the late Eighties. Throughout his five-year trial he has remained head of Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party backed mainly by Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin.

His supporters immediately accused the court of bias against the Sephardim (Middle Eastern Jews) and said Mr Deri would remain head of Shas. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime minister, who needs the support of Shas in the election on 17 May, asked for calm in the face of threatened street demonstrations. Mr Deri is to appeal.

The verdict is likely to deepen the chasm between Sephardi and Ashkenazi (European) Jews in Israel, with the former feeling that they are being unfairly treated by the elite. His supporters argued yesterday that if Mr Deri had taken any money it was to benefit those who needed it. A banner outside the court read: "Kicking the Sephardi Ashkenazi style."

Mr Deri's meteoric career faltered in 1990 when allegations of corruption surfaced. Up to then he was a consummate political organiser, combining religious fervour and social radicalism. He has always been supported by Ovadia Yosef, the movement's charismatic spiritual leader. He has stood by him throughout the trial. Even Sephardi who believe Mr Deri took money think that he did no worse than many Israeli politicians of European origin who have escaped criminal charges. Beni Elbaz, a Deri supporter standing outside the court, said: "Even if they put him in solitary confinement he will remain the leader of Shas."

By portraying their leader as a victim of the Ashkenazi establishment, Shas hopes to gain votes at the polls. In a message Mr Deri asked his supporters to show restraint on the streets but to make clear their view of the verdict on election day.

Although Mr Deri could face up to 30 years in prison the appeal process will be prolonged. During this period Mr Deri will remain a key player in Israeli politics and he is increasingly close to Mr Netanyahu.

Although Mr Deri is religious, he is not a fanatic. He was part of the government of Yitzhak Rabin, the former prime minister, before he was forced to resign by the court. The unrelenting legal pursuit of Mr Deri over so many years has fed the Sephardi sense that they are an under-class whom the Ashkenazi elite are determined to exclude from power.

Up to the last minute many Shas loyalists expected Mr Deri to be found innocent, or guilty of lesser charges. In the event the court accepted almost all the prosecution's case on the illegal funnelling of money to religious institutions to which Mr Deri was connected. It dismissed Mr Deri's explanation of how he received $167,000 for his personal use.

Hundreds of police were posted around the court yesterday as the verdict was announced. Shas denounced reports of possible disturbances as an attempt to blacken their name.

The trial was one of the longest in Israel's history, generating 41,000 pages of transcript. The length of the proceedings were partly the result of the almost endless delaying tactics of Mr Deri and his three fellow accused.

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