Eli Yishai
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Eliyahu (Eli) Yishai (in Hebrew אליהו (אלי) ישי) (born December 26, 1962) is the leader of the Haredi Sephardi Shas party in Israel. He was appointed head of the party after former leader Aryeh Deri was indicted for fraud. As of May 4, 2006, he is the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Employment and Deputy Prime Minister.
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, he was a member of the Jerusalem City Council from 1987-1988.
First elected to the Knesset in 1996, Yishai was the Israeli Minister of Interior in 2001-2003, Israeli Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, and Deputy Prime Minister. Despite the numerical weakness of his party's roughly 12-member delegations in the Knesset, its role as swing faction regularly gains it participation in the cabinet.
He is married and has six children.
He came under fire in February 2006 when he told reporters that "homosexuality is clearly a disease", and wished gays and lesbians a "speedy recovery". [link]
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