Bayit Yehudi MK Moti Yogev appeared on the London & Kirshenbaum news magazine program. He was asked to his opinion regarding the candidacy of Tzfas Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who wishes to become Israel’s next Rishon L’Tzion.

Yogev began by commenting on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s decision to oppose the candidacy. He questioned why Weinstein is still attorney general, explaining that when it was discovered that the Weinsteins employed an illegal alien as a domestic in their home. An indictment was filed against his wife yet he was ignored and permitted to continue as the nation’s attorney general.

Yogev added the party, Bayit Yehudi, has only decided on the Ashkenazi candidate, Rabbi David Stav, not the Sephardi candidate. Yogev added that he personally feels Rav Eliyahu is most suited for the position.

Yogev adds that the matter of Rav Eliyahu’s suitability has already come before the High Court of Justice and the court rejected a petition to disqualify him as chief rabbi of the city, questioning how Weinstein can defy the high court.

When asked to respond to Rav Eliyahu’s statement opposing the rental of Tzfas homes to Arabs, Yogev explained one must response on two different spheres. One the one hand, as the chief rabbi of Tzfas, the rabbi is responsible for the city and he ruled that Halacha does not permit renting to non-Jews. “When one becomes a candidate for Chief Rabbi then one must view the person in a different fashion, as is the case the moment one becomes a government minister one begins wearing a suit and tie.” Yogev adds “you may feel a Jew may marry a non-Jew and that is fine, but he would still say this is prohibited because that is what Halacha compels, like it or not.”

The MK adds that as a battalion commander in the IDF, when he was placed in charge of the Ephraim Commander he was also compelled to concern himself with quality of life for Arabs in villages in his district and this is the case of a person elected as chief rabbi. He is sure that Rabbi Eliyahu is quite aware of this.

“The same attorney general has no problem with professors who talk about ousting Jews from their homes” added Yogev, seeking to show the attorney general acts to advance his left-wing agenda.

Moderators now show their leftist preference, shouting a Yogev “What are you making us crazy with the domestic in his home. He did not know and what’s the difference. Rav Eliyahu is a racist and that is the fact.”

Yogev:

He is indeed a suitable candidate and the attorney general errs in his ruling and he should permit the voters to speak their mind.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)