Mechina Yeshiva Bnei David, located in Yishuv Eli, has filed a libel lawsuit against attorney Yair Nehorai, claiming Nehorai called for the closing of the military prepatory yeshiva, which he calls “a danger to democracy and the values of the State of Israel and the symbol of extremism and messianism”.

The yeshiva and its leader, Rabbi Eli Sadan, is the first of the mechina yeshivot in Israel, and according to many in the dati leumi community, Rav Sadan is viewed as the ‘Father of mechinot’. On Sunday, July 14, 2019, Rav Sadan and the yeshiva filed a NIS 700,000 libel suit against Nehorai in response to statements made about the yeshiva and some of its rabbonim. Yeshiva officials explain how they maliciously distort the truth and quote half-truths towards misrepresenting the mechina, alleging it hates women, sectors and other communities to attack the values of religious Zionism as a whole.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Michael Davurin, with Rav Sadan alleging there were lies about the yeshiva published on Facebook, stating Rav Sadan calls on women not to serve in Knesset, but to be dependent on their husbands and to serve in the IDF to carry out a military coup in Israeli society.

Rav Sadan is a co-founder of the yeshiva and a former recipient of the Israel Prize.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)