The Supreme Court on erev Shabbos 23 Tishrei rejected a petition filed by the Vaad Eida Sephardim, a petition that hoped to block the election for chief rabbis of Yerushalayim scheduled for Tuesday 27 Tishrei. The court decided there was no cause for it to interfere in the process as it is being handled by the local election committee. Clearly not pleased with the petition, another attempt to block the election, the court compelled the petitioner to pay legal costs of 20,000 shekels to Jerusalem City Hall and the Ministry of Religious Services. The court also rejected another petition from Degel Hatorah seeking to challenge some of the members of the 48 person voting body.

Degel tried to challenge the members of the voting body selected by the Ministry of Religious Services. The court stated the ministry had indeed selected persons that fairly represent the cross-section of the Jerusalem population, adding the minister used a report released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) to determine the population breakdown of the capital. The court stated the candidates do indeed reflect the numbers reported by the CBS. In another recent petition to the court seeking to block the election, the court called the petitioners “Charlatans” and threw out the petition.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)