Shas chairman Aryeh Deri launched a sharp attack on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing the Religious Zionism chairman of turning against the very Charedi political partners who helped bring him to power.

Speaking on Mishpacha’s “Mifgash” podcast with Aryeh Ehrlich, Deri said Smotrich was under intense electoral pressure and suggested that his recent attacks on the Charedi community were driven by competition for votes.

“I understand that he is under tremendous pressure because of the electoral threshold and the parties competing with him,” Deri said. “But without Shas and the Charedim, he would be nothing. Because of us, he is finance minister.” Deri added that “even among horse traders there are rules.”

Deri also pushed back against criticism portraying Shas as disconnected from Israelis serving in the IDF, claiming that more soldiers vote for Shas than for Religious Zionism. The assertion comes amid a broader Shas effort to emphasize its ties to traditional and religious IDF families. Deri recently publicized messages from soldiers and military families supporting the party after an election campaign video featuring an IDF soldier was ordered removed by Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg.

The confrontation follows Smotrich’s criticism of Deri and other Charedi politicians over their support for yeshiva bochurim facing military enforcement. After Deri and then-UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf visited draft evaders imprisoned in a military jail, Smotrich accused the Charedi lawmakers of displaying “disconnection and insensitivity” while Israelis were burying fallen soldiers.

The increasingly public clash highlights the electoral competition between Shas and Religious Zionism as both seek support among religious and traditional voters ahead of the election.