From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 17, 2024
‘Like thieves in the night’: Likud MKs slam revival of bill expanding Chief Rabbinate’s influence
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Likud lawmakers and the umbrella group representing local authorities work to head off the reintroduction of a bill dramatically changing how municipal rabbis are chosen in the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
Addressing the committee this morning, Likud MK Moshe Saada accuses the Religious Zionism party of acting “like thieves in the night” by bringing back the controversial bill, which would greatly expand the influence of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Religious Services Ministry in the appointment of municipal rabbis at the expense of local authorities — while at the same time also eroding the role of women in the process.
“This is a law that we opposed in Likud and with the consent of the prime minister, the law was dropped from the agenda,” Saada tells chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), arguing that it is not the time to deal with “jobs or the interests of one or another party.”
If passed into law, the bill could cost taxpayers dozens of millions of shekels annually in salaries for hundreds of new neighborhood rabbis employed by local municipalities.
Critics of the bill charge it would benefit Haredi party Shas by creating jobs for its apparatchiks and increasing the Chief Rabbinate’s say both in appointing rabbis and in how they operate.
“The rabbis law will go before the Constitution Committee tomorrow. This is what Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the committee, decided,” tweets Likud MK Tally Gotliv.
“If my position and the position of other members of the Knesset to remove the law from the agenda will not be accepted, then there is a legal way to force the removal of the law from the agenda,” she says, without giving further details.
Likud MKs Dan Illouz and Eli Dallal also object.
The law “weakens local authorities by appointing rabbis instead of strengthening them,” tweets Illouz, adding that “local authorities should be much stronger, not less” and that “rabbis should be attentive to the public they serve and know their community in depth.”
“There is no place for such a law at this time that causes division in the people,” tweets Dallal, arguing that passing such a law must be done in coordination with Federation of Local Authorities.
Writing to Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli on Sunday, Federation of Local Authorities chief Haim Bibas, a senior figure in Likud, objected to the bill, the Walla news site reports.
Adding more staff requiring additional money “will further burden the coffers of local authorities” struggling to support residents during wartime, he wrote.
