Eli Yishai

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Eliyahu (Eli) Yishai (in Hebrew אליהו (אלי) ישי) (born December 26, 1962) is an Israeli politician and head of the Shas party. He is married and has seven children.

[edit] Political life

Yishai started his political life as a member of the Jerusalem City Council from 1987-1988.

Yishai at the Knesset podium protesting the government's decision to raise bread prices

He was first elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections as a member of Shas, the Mizrahi Ultra-orthodox party, and was made Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

He retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and was again appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in Ehud Barak's government. After Ariel Sharon beat Barak in the 2001 Prime Ministerial election, Yishai was appointed as Interior Minister and made a Deputy Prime Minister in Sharon's national unity government.

Yishai took over as party leader when Aryeh Deri was convicted of fraud but Shas were not included in Ariel Sharon's coalition government of the 16th Knesset.

After the 2006 elections Shas were invited to join Ehud Olmert's coaltion and Yishai was made Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labour as well as being a Deputy Prime Minister.

Yishai came under fire in February 2006 when he told reporters that "homosexuality is clearly a disease", and wished gays and lesbians a "speedy recovery".[1]

He also made several contoversial comments about the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. In Haaretz he was quoted as saying: "If Hezbollah fires Katyushas, we have to deliver a severe blow to Lebanon's infrastructure, black out Beirut, cut off electricity, turn off the water, destroy bridges, halt industry and flatten entire villages. If there is horrible damage in Lebanon, they will say, 'The Jews are crazy,'" [2]