10 Facts About Eli Yishai

In 1980, Eli Yishai enlisted in the IDF and served until 1983.

Eli Yishai became a member of Jerusalem City Council in 1987, although he left the council the following year.

In 1988, Eli Yishai served as an aide to Aryeh Deri who was then Minister of Internal Affairs.

Eli Yishai was first elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections, after which he was made Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Eli Yishai retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and was again appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in Ehud Barak's government.

Eli Yishai tried to recruit voters from the settlements and took the party out of Ehud Barak's coalition government in advance of the Camp David summit with Yasser Arafat in 2000.

Eli Yishai remained Deputy Prime Minister following the 2009 elections, and returned to the Internal Affairs portfolio.

In May 2013, some months after the internal rift following Deri's political comeback, Eli Yishai was ousted as party leader, being replaced by Deri.

In December 2014, Yishai announced that he would be leaving Shas to establish a new religious party, which would run in the 2015 elections.

The announcement came after the friction between Deri and Eli Yishai reached breaking point; Nine of Shas' eleven government ministers signed a statement indicating their support for Deri, and Shas' Council of Torah Sages ordered Deri to cancel a weekend meeting with Eli Yishai during which the two planned to attempt a reconciliation.