Religious Affairs Ministry director general questioned over corruption suspicions — reports

By Charlie Summers

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7 June 2026, 5:09 pm

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Director-General of the Religious Services Ministry Yehuda Avidan, attends Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting in the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, on June 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The ministry director general interrogated on criminal suspicions this morning is Yehuda Avidan, who oversees the Religious Affairs Ministry, Hebrew outlets report.

Avidan and two others were questioned by police investigators in the Lahav 433 major crimes unit on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of authority and making threats.

He is suspected of trying to illicitly influence the decisions of someone connected to his ministry, as well as scuttle the justified dismissal of a close colleague, the Kan public broadcaster reported earlier today.

According to Ynet, the head of the ministry’s human resources division is among the three people interrogated by police.