On Sunday evening, a little over an hour after the release of the heated tapes, Shas members went down to Tel Aviv for an emergency discussion with the advertising and strategy people accompanying the campaign.
After a few hours, they emerged with one clear goal: to get everyone talking about the disgrace and no one talking about the content.
And so it was.
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At noon, Rabbi Ovadia's children went up to their father's grave to ask for forgiveness for the disgrace. A digital sticker with the title screaming "Dad, what did they do to you?" was distributed online.
The question of who the distributor was occupied everyone all day, and even the rabbi's driver went on air to express his protest. All this before Aryeh Deri's dramatic resignation spin at exactly 8 o'clock, the opening time of the editions - a spin that lasted barely an hour.
The strategy was successful, the discussion was diverted.
No one mentioned that Rabbi Ovadia was a saint to Aryeh Deri and claimed that he did not listen to his voice and was too independent. No one asked what exactly the family conflict between the rabbi's two sons-in-law, Chikotai and Toledano, in which Deri was involved, was, and which made Rabbi Ovadia's wife cry.
Almost everyone ignored Deri's public lies about Oslo and threats to establish his own party, and no one addressed the rabbi's blunt statement that a person in prison could harm the party's power.
The machine for inserting messages about the disgrace worked so hard that no one checked - was the Maran Bose disgraced at all?
Is it to see a man who, even in his old age, was as clear and sharp as a razor, who understood exactly who was hanging around his house and what damage he was causing him, or by wanting to appoint a chairman for the movement so that he could devote all his time to writing books - is that what Boza is looking for?
And a little more behind the scenes - if you tried to read yesterday the harsh things that Rabbi Ovadia said about Deri in the newspaper that once had a country or on his website, you had to scroll all the way to the distant and modest back pages (page 6 from the bottom right).
The reason is simple: Eli Yishai has already announced that he will support Netanyahu, while Deri has stated more than once that Bozhi and Tzipi are also options. A shakeup? Drama? History? You made fun of him. Maybe today, when the news will lean in Deri's favor?
• The column was published in Israel Today
