and Shach called upon his "Lithuanian" followers to vote for it in the polls, a move that many saw as key political and religious move in Shach's split with the Hasidic-controlled Agudat Yisrael. While initially, Shas was largely under the aegis of Shach, Ovadia Yosef gradually exerted control over the party, culminating in Shas' decision to support the Labor party in the 13th Knesset in 1992. On the eve of the November 1988 election, Shach officially broke away from Agudat Israel in protest at Hamodia publishing, as paid advertisements, a series of articles based on the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (the Lubavitcher Rebbe). Shach criticized Schneerson for his presumed messianic aspirations. Shach wanted the Aguda party to oppose Lubavitch; however, all but one (Belz) of the Hasidic groups within the party refused to back him. Shach and his followers then formed the Degel HaTorah ("Flag of the Torah") party to represent the non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredim. Following a personal visit by Shach in Jerusalem to the leading rabbis and halachic decisors of the day, Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, in order to seek their support for the new party, they agreed to lend support to it. Schneerson's followers mobilized to support the Agudat Yisrael party. In the end, Agudat Yisrael secured nearly three times the number of votes it had in 1984, and increased its Knesset representation from two seats to five, while Degel HaTorah only picked up two seats. After the bitter contest in the 1988 elections, Degel HaTorah conceded, and agreed to work together with Agudat Yisrael. They combined forces in the 1992 elections under the name of United Torah Judaism, an agreement which has continued to the present. In a speech delivered prior to the 1992 elections, Shach said that Sephardim were still not fit for leadership, and aroused great anger among Sephardi voters. Following the elections, Shach instructed Shas not to join the government, while Ovadia Yosef instructed them to join; this precipitated an open rift between the parties. Shach then claimed that Shas had "removed itself from the Jewish community when it joined the wicked...". Around 1995, Shach's political activity diminished, following deterioration in his health, before later ceasing altogether. After that, the two main leaders of the Degel HaTorah party were Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, followed by Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman. Shach was deeply opposed to Zionism, both secular and religious. He