Leased lightning. Shas May Leave Labor Coalition Jerusalem (JTA) — Concern over the stability of Israel's government is mounting amid increasing signs that the Shas party may bolt the Labor-led coalition over the handling of the case against Interior Minister Aryeh Deri. Mr. Deri, who heads the fervently Orthodox party has been accused by At- torney General Yosef Harish of committing acts of bribery, fraud and breach of the public trust. But formal charges cannot be brought against him in court unless the Knesset waves his parliamentary immunity, a move it is unlikely to make before it returns from summer recess in October. Mr. Harish and Justice Minister David Libai are urging Mr. Deri to step down from his Cabinet post in the meantime, but Prime Min- ister Yitzhak Rabin has in- dicated he will not force such a move until an indictment against Deri is presented in court. The High Court of Justice is expected to rule next week on whether Deri should be required to step down. A rul- ing against Mr. Deri may prompt the six-member Shas Knesset faction to leave the government, as many within the party's leadership and constituency have demand- ed. New indications that a se- rious crisis is looming over the coalition surfaced over the weekend as Shas party figures unleashed sharp verbal attacks against Mr. Harish and Mr. Libai. An- other indication of the seri- ousness of the crisis was seen in Mr. Deli's absence from the weekly Cabinet session. His aides briefly explained that Mr. Deri had extended a weekend leave. Mr. Deri spent the weekend at a re- ligious seminar organized by his wife, Yaffa, at the Wash- ington Heights College near Ashdod. So far, the Shas party's spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has stood as a buffer against the pressure to leave the government, while encouraging Mr. Deri to remain in office. If Shas quits, the coalition would be left with a govern- ing plurality of 56 Knesset members from the Labor ... Ovadia Yosef: Shas party's mentor. Party and Meretz bloc. Unless it can persuade addi- tional parties to join the government, it will be forced to rely on the tacit support of the five Knesset members belonging to the two left- wing Arab parties: Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party. Labor recently has been reaching out to the United Torah Judaism bloc, which has four Knesset members, but these talks have born no fruit so far because of the fervently Orthodox party's continued objection to the formation of any ties with the secularist Meretz bloc. Shas officials have grown especially militant following an interview the attorney general gave Israel Televi- sion over the weekend in which he claimed that Deri had no "appropriate re- sponse to the charges against him." Knesset member Shlomo Benizri of Shas demanded that the government fire Harish immediately because he "has sentenced Deri even before the charge sheet was presented to court." Shas intended to go ahead with its plan to file a counter- petition to the High Court of Justice, demanding that the court intervene against the attorney general for his having reversed his original position in the af- fair. Mr. Harish, prior to sign- ing the coalition agreement about a year ago, endorsed Mr. Deli's pledge to suspend himself from office only after a charge sheet is presented in court. ❑ 77.777,77.7Mrpg* - but how little it goes for. Just $289 per month With its gutsy V6 engine, ABS brakes and during our limited-time Special Value Lease special traction control system, our 1993 (with as little as $2,000 down). Few bona fide Passat GLX inspires a driving experience that German touring sedans are that easy to can only be called electrifying. handle. One hundred and seventy-two See us for a test horses, harnessed precisely as drive. And hurry. the driver desires. 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