Heads of religious councils who are numbered among the 150 voters who will select Israel’s next chief rabbis accuse Bayit Yehudi party leaders of pressuring them to vote for the party’s candidates, Rabbi David Stav and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.

A number of these individuals told Maariv that Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan has contacted them towards ascertaining who they plan to vote for in the election. They are quoted anonymously explaining “one cannot win in such a conversation” since Ben-Dahan is their boss in many ways, including state funding. Adding to their pressure is the fact that in the upcoming religious council elections scheduled to take place in four months, there are 11 voters, of which five are appointed by Ben-Dahan’s ministry.

One religious council official adds “It is a shame that a party that championed ‘new politics’ resorts to the same tactics. One must realize Ben-Dahan’s influence in the upcoming Chief Rabbinate election is major, about 50% of the vote, and therefore he selects the candidate he wants in.”

Along the same lines Bayit Yehudi ousted Gila Finkelstein, YWN-ISRAEL reported, a member of the 150 person voting body for the new chief rabbis because party officials feared she was going to vote for candidates other than those backed by the party.

Ben-Dahan aides responded, explaining that in his capacity of overseeing religious councils around the country, Rabbi Ben-Dahan meets with many religious council officials. Aides to the deputy minister call the allegations made in the Maariv report “baseless and ridiculous.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)