Is Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, a member of the Council of Sages, calling for the party not to be supported in the upcoming elections, and even believes that the Haredi public should act to overthrow the right-wing bloc? According to a report today (Wednesday) in Haaretz, this is what students and associates are testifying to.
One of his students said: "The rabbi demanded that I promise him that I would not vote for Shas, that I would ask my family not to vote for the party, and that I would publicize his request to everyone I could." Another student testified that the rabbi swore him and his friends not to vote for Shas.
A source in the party confirmed the news and said: "As soon as it becomes public, he will of course deny it, but in conversations within the house he says it clearly.".
The same source said that Rabbi Yosef does not hide his position even in conversations with people close to him, and that at least ten of the rabbi's close associates were present at the conversation: "Deri also knows that Rabbi Yitzhak asks not to vote for the party.".
According to the testimony, Rabbi Yosef believes that the current government is unable to reach an agreement on the issue of recruiting yeshiva students, and therefore political change must be worked on. The source quoted him as saying: "The time has come for us to overthrow the right. We will get nothing from the right. Only with the left can we reach agreements.".
Another student of the rabbi said that he had expressed to him on several occasions sharp criticism of the right-wing's attitude towards the haredi public, alongside a more positive stance towards the left-wing parties. According to him, the rabbi said: "Netanyahu and religious Zionism hate us, but the left respects us. The left only wants power and does not want to harm us. We can work with them.".
The Rashal's home told the newspaper: "In response to a biased article this morning in Haaretz, according to which the Rashal, Rabbi Yosef, allegedly ordered his students not to vote for Shas, and that 'the right-wing bloc must be overthrown' -
""It has never been and will never be. It is unfortunate that there are elements within the household who spread falsehoods in the name of the rabbi, with the aim of sowing division. Their plot will not succeed and the Sephardic public will continue to be united.".
The Shas movement's response to what they called the "trendy article in Haaretz": "The Shas movement is the life's work of our great Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. We protest the disrespect of the Torah of the great Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who expressed his opinion time and time again, in his handwriting and orally, in clear and unequivocal support for the Shas movement, which his great father founded, and even protested vehemently against those who try to harm the movement and stir up controversy against it.
The Shas movement, which has carved out the preservation of the Jewish identity of the State of Israel as its banner, established the right-wing bloc that upholds tradition and is committed to it, and will act resolutely against the establishment of a left-wing government whose sole goal is to uproot Judaism from the state.".
