Bayit Yehudi and Meretz party representatives in Beit Shemesh have petitioned the High Court of Justice in the hope of blocking the appointment of Shas-affiliated Binyamin Alharrar as head of the local religious council. In the joint petition they explained the appointment does not permit fair representation of the various types of Jews in the city. They called on the court to become involved in the appointment made by the Ministry of Religious Services, which is also controlled by Shas. The petitioners requested an immediate court response to block the appointment, but this did not occur as the court scheduled the first hearing eight months from now.

Petitioners point out that Alharrar is a senior Shas official. What worked against the petition is the fact that Uri Buskila, one of the petitioners, appointed Alharrar to the religious council in the previous term.

Rabbonim in the city are angered and concerned over the petition, which contains paragraphs speaking of the struggle for Jewish pluralism and equality for all denominations, which is interpreted to mean support of the Reform Movement. The rabbonim question how Buskila, who is affiliated with Bayit Yehudi, can associate himself with such a petition.

Yossi Bachar, who is close to Mayor Moshe Abutbul feels Buskila is being hypocritical for when he was a part of the city’s management, he tried appointing persons affiliated with his hashkafa, the dati leumi community, including efforts to appoint NRP-affiliated Tzvi Daniel.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)