Controversies
In 2006, Yishai was subjected to criticism after he claimed that negative results from the 2006 Lebanon War were a consequence of soldiers not being as religiously observant as they were in the past.
Yishai has been accused of negligence in the wake of Israel's deadly forest fire in December 2010, prompting calls to resign.
In May 2009, he refused to allow the Holy See to exercise jurisdiction over Christian holy sites in Israel, an agreement which would have resolved disputes over the implementation of the 1993 Fundamental Accord. That November, Yishai argued that African refugee migrants to Israel should not be allowed to settle permanently in Israel because they bring in "a range of diseases such as hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis and AIDS." However, the Jerusalem Post reviewed Israeli Ministry of Health data, and concluded that there was a relatively low infection rate among asylum-seekers. In a June 2012 interview with the Israeli daily Maariv, Yishai was quoted as saying: "Muslims that arrive here do not even believe that this country belongs to us, to the white man."
Yishai declared Günter Grass, the German Nobel laureate, as persona non grata on 8 April 2012, four days after the publication of his poem "Was gesagt werden muss" ("What Must Be Said").
On November 17, 2012 Yishai stated about Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza: "The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for forty years." He also was quoted as saying “We must blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages, destroying all the infrastructure including roads and water.”
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