On January 7th, he dutifully donned a black skull-cap for a reverential photo-opportunity with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the powerful Shas party.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, one of Israel's religious parties, has long indicated that he would be in favour of giving up land for peace.
The founder and spiritual mentor of the movement, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, seems at last to have severed his own psychological dependency on the charismatic Mr Deri, and reasserted his authority.