"Turning to the High Court was a mistake," said Shas Chairman Minister Eli Yishai, during a Shas meeting in the Knesset to discuss the Emmanuel affair. "Going to the High Court did not lead to a solution of any kind. Sending people to jail did not lead to a solution of any kind."
Everybody agrees that turning to the High Court is prohibited, he noted, saying even claims of this sort should only be brought before a beis din. "You gave the High Court a few months? Give the Rabbinate beit din a few weeks," Yishai said.
The Shas chairman derided calls by the media for Shas to launch an ethnic battle within the chareidi public, noting that the mainstream media has always condemned Shas and charged that it was wrong to build a party on ethnic tensions.
"I have no doubt," said Yishai, "that a whole lot of people expected that I and Shas would make use of the affair to launch a campaign. But when I spoke of ethnic discrimination in the coalition talks that Shas held with Kadima, everybody attacked me and everyone in the media criticized me for taking the `ethnic genie' out of the bottle, and a bitter cry went out.
"Going to the High Court did not lead to a solution of any kind. Certainly the solution to the problem is not closing the Ashkenazi schools, but opening new schools. That's the real answer — taking action. More and more schools, based on the need: kindergartens, yeshivas, kollelim and afternoon childcare."
Yishai also said, "Some people want to see a struggle between the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic public. We're not eager to see chilul Hashem, war, bloodshed and struggles. The solution will not come through the High Court or through barbarism."
