Jerusalem - Undeterred by a four-year jail sentence for bribe-taking, Mr Aryeh Deri, leader of Israel's third-largest political party and a key ally of the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, declared yesterday that he would not be retreating from public life, David Horovitz writes.
Rabbi Deri (40), leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said he would go to the Supreme Court to appeal his conviction, the jail sentence and a $60,000 fine handed down by the Jerusalem District Court yesterday. His spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has told Shas supporters that Rabbi Deri will continue to lead the party - even, should his appeal fail, from behind bars.
The court had found last month that he pocketed $155,000 in bribes in the 1980s, and illegally directed government funds to Shas-affiliated institutions.