The Jerusalem mayoral race is well underway and as announced, one of the candidates is Councilman Yossi Deutsch, who is affiliated with the chassidish Agudas Yisrael faction. He opened a campaign office in the capital months ago.

Journalist Amit Segal used Twitter to get his message out, that Deutsch has yet to receive the ‘green light’ from his rebbe, the Slonimer Rebbe Shlita, to compete in the race. When trying to verify the integrity of the tweet, all sides involved denied the accuracy of the message, as reported by Kikar Shabbos News.

In a follow-up tweet, Segal added, “They are now going to the other rebbes, currently at the Belzer, and then returning to the Slonimer”. One assumes Deri and Gafne are pleased. They would rather back Gal Ochovsky than Deutsch, and this places pressure on them, at least for this week”.

This led to adamant denials that the Slonimer Rebbe is objecting to Deutsch running in the race. First denials came from person close to Deutsch, who explain the decision will be made by the secretariat of Agudas Yisrael.

Kikar Shabbos News adds that persons who were in the room with Deutsch when he met, including Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman and Deputy Minister Meir Porush, deny the Slonimer Rebbe told Deutsch not to run due to having to deal with the issue of Chilul Shabbos.

Persons close to Deutsch are quoted by Kikar saying, “In the framework of the discussion, the Slonimer Rebbe spoke of the overall responsibility and significance of a chareidi candidate for mayor, just as in decisions of this type”.

According to them, the rebbe congratulated Yossi Deutsch on the move, and representatives of Slonim will vote on Wednesday when the secretariat of Agudas Yisrael convenes on the matter.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)