How Conservatives Tried to Buy Haredi Rabbis (Part 2)

Over the last few days, Kikar HaShabbat has revealed dramatic correspondence involving Yizhar Hess, a representative of the Conservative movement, and his assistant Eyal Ostrinsky, who used various means to harm the Eretz HaKodesh movement and defame it within the Haredi community.

To this end, they worked to publicize the movement's members through advertisements and posters, and via a social media campaign aimed at inciting unrest in the Haredi community against Eretz HaKodesh.

Among other things, testimonies and evidence have been received indicating that representatives of the organization approached associates of rabbis and prominent Torah scholars to influence them to issue statements against Eretz HaKodesh, in exchange for sums of money based on a pricing list created for this purpose.

A confidant of one of Israel's leading Torah scholars told Kikar HaShabbat about an apparently innocent approach he received, requesting that he influence his teacher and rabbi to sign a letter against Eretz HaKodesh. After several conversations, he cut off contact with the person who had made the request, because it seemed suspicious to him.

These attempts can be inferred from dramatic correspondence in a WhatsApp group involving Yizhar Hess, a Conservative movement figure who serves as deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and his chief of staff, Eyal Ostrinsky, a former Labor Party member considered the mastermind behind progressive organizations in national institutions. In the correspondence, they attempt to reach and influence associates of leading Torah scholars in Israel and abroad to oppose Eretz HaKodesh.

The correspondence reveals that the Conservatives are operating through additional, yet-to-be-exposed channels, including Haredi figures abroad who assist them in this campaign. It also shows the deep involvement of the two in managing a street advertising and poster campaign against Eretz HaKodesh members and the World Zionist Organization.

Quotes from the Correspondence:

Campaigner: I've moved to the arena of Lithuanian rabbis in the U.S.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Excellent.

Campaigner: Rabbi Kotler and a few others. It's under review now; I'll know answers tomorrow.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Show them what Rabbi Lando wrote.

Campaigner: In the U.S., do you want them to join Lando's statement or issue a separate letter with the same content?

Eyal Ostrinsky: If they join Lando, it's stronger, no?

Campaigner: Yes. But if done separately, we can place two ads in newspapers, more exposure.

A few days later, the campaigner presents a potential list of rabbis in Israel who could be persuaded to sign against Eretz HaKodesh members, provides structured pricing based on the list of rabbis, and discusses with the Conservative representatives the cost-effectiveness of the investment based on the rabbis' status.

The correspondence is accompanied by messages forwarded by various parties involved in the campaign who tried to recruit rabbis for the effort. It is evident that some operated through other channels not revealed in this correspondence.

Campaigner:

Rabbi Shmuel Galai

Rabbi Mordechai Gross

Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein

Rabbi Mordechai Bonim Zilberberg

Rabbi Koldetzky

Rabbi David Cohen

Rabbi Elliezer Yehuda Finkel

Rabbi Aviezer Piltz

Rabbi Yigal Rosen

Total: 35000 ILS (35000 ILS, emphasis not in original).

Campaigner: Lithuanian rabbis, rank B in Israel. Around 4000 per name.

Eyal Ostrinsky: I'm checking the names.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Koldetzky is the husband of Kanievsky's daughter, right?

Campaigner: Yes, this is an optional list. Not sure he can actually get them all.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Mordechai Gross is interesting. He heads a rabbinical court in Paris.

Eyal Ostrensky: Maybe he's relevant for France.

Campaigner: He's somewhat aligned with the Jerusalem faction. There's a chance with him, though I don't know his relationship with Eretz HaKodesh.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Got it.

Yizhar Hess: The names don't mean much to me. That's a crazy price, no?

Campaigner: Because it's a lot of rabbis. In practice, we don't need half of them.

Yizhar Hess: But maybe the volume is worth it?

Campaigner: I'll ask him now how much he wants for the rabbis we want. But it's definitely a crazy price. Your call.

Yizhar Hess: Try to negotiate.

Yizhar Hess: What do you think?

Campaigner: If we drop Rabbi Zilberstein and go for Rabbis Galai, Koldetzky, Cohen, and Gross, he'll do it for 20000. That's based on difficulty, he claims. Koldetzky is also Kanievsky's son-in-law.

Yizhar Hess: Is Zilberstein important?

Campaigner: Sorry, I think Rabbi Zilberstein is Kanievsky's brother-in-law, and Rabbi Koldetzky is the son-in-law.

Campaigner: I spoke to him about the price. The pie is probably too big, and there are others who need to eat from it. He says he can't go lower.

Yizhar Hess: Maybe offer a price per signature to motivate him? Because if he comes back with three or four signatures from less influential names, what have we achieved?

Campaigner: That's clear. If he brings one signature, he gets 5000.

Yizhar Hess: Who are the most important names on the list?

Campaigner: Rabbi Galai is a sort of Ashkenazi Baba, very strong in America, and Rabbi Gross, Eyal said, is strong in France.

Yizhar Hess: Alright, you have the green light. Good luck!

Eyal Ostrinsky: Also David Cohen.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Also Finkel, a member of the Council of Torah Sages.

Eyal Ostrinsky: Try him too.

Campaigner: What's the budget? 25000? 20000?

Eyal Ostrinsky: You won't get more than 4-5 signatures, right?

Eyal Ostrinsky: So yes.

Campaigner: Yes, but who are the top 4 you want him to try for?

Eyal Ostrinsky: The ones you mentioned. Just swap Gross for David Cohen.

A few days later, the issue of the rabbis comes up again, and a strategy forms to have the rabbis sign onto Rabbi Dov Lando's letter on the matter. Yizhar Hess remains persistent, constantly inquiring about how to advance the issue.

Campaigner: Regarding the rabbis, he wants the original letter. For some reason, Rabbi Lando's house isn't sending it to me. I'm trying to get it.

The next day, Yizhar Hess checks again on the progress, and the day after that as well. They try to find a way to reach the rabbis.

Yizhar Hess: What's with the letters?

Campaigner: We reached a confidant (a different title was written, withheld) of Rabbi Lando. He said he's willing to cooperate and help with more rabbis on the condition that we tell him who else is behind this. We're trying to string him along; let's see if we succeed.

Later in the correspondence, the campaigner shares a link to a video posted on the Twitter account of a well-known journalist, featuring Rabbi Dov Lando prohibiting voting for Eretz HaKodesh and the World Zionist Organization.

The tweet posted by the well-known journalist

Campaigner: Sharing the tweet.

Campaigner: Wow, who's behind this?

Yizhar Hess: No idea.

Yizhar Hess: Interesting!

Campaigner: Rabbi's house. (Attaches documentation) They're distributing it in groups.

Campaigner: I transcribed the video. We'll put it on posters in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. Are Gafni and Litov still relevant, or are we done with them? I wrote Eretz HaKodesh; if needed, we'll change it.

Yizhar Hess: Let's do limited posters and keep Litov and Gafni.

A few days later, a new possibility arises to operate among Halabi community rabbis in the U.S. to sign against participation in the World Zionist Organization elections. Yizhar Hess's surprising response suggests that others are already working for him to secure rabbis' signatures: It's being handled.

Campaigner: By the way, someone told me there's a large Halabi community in the U.S. that votes for Eretz HaKodesh. I'm trying to figure out the scale. But we could check on a letter from Sephardi rabbis. It's easier than with Ashkenazim. Interesting? Should we do some homework on the scale?

Yizhar Hess: It's being handled!

Yizhar Hess: No.

Response from Eretz HaKodesh to the article:

After Conservative leader Yizhar Hess claimed in his response that they only took Rabbi Dov Lando's halachic ruling and helped spread it, it now turns out that Hess lied once again, as he and his assistant Eyal Ostreinsky acted brazenly through intermediaries to buy rabbis' associates and influence them to act against the Eretz HaKodesh party, adding sin to crime by paying for it with national institution funds.

They added: Time and again, it becomes clear that there is no boundary that has not been crossed and no moral barrier that has not been trampled by those who have abandoned the values of the Torah of Israel. Eretz HaKodesh will use every legal and administrative means at its disposal to bring the offenders to justice for all the violations they have committed.

Yizhar Hess's response:

"All the information appearing in the poster campaign is nothing but the truth. We are in a historic struggle over the character of the Zionist movement. Exposing the hypocrisy of those who belong to the leadership of the Lithuanian public in Israeli politics, Moshe Gafni, Yitzhak Pindrus, and Shmuel Litov, is the right thing to do. On one hand, they despise Zionism and its values, and on the other, they themselves, or their closest family members, enjoy the benefits of the Zionist movement through their unofficial proxy party in the national institutions.

The Eretz HaKodesh party is nothing but a fraud. Behind it hide well-known Haredi operatives who, in the Knesset, fight against conscription, but in the Zionist institutions, for jobs and budgets, ignore the rulings of Rabbi Lando and Rabbi Hirsch and sign onto the Jerusalem Program, which mandates conscription for all and clear loyalty to Jewish pluralism. The hypocrisy of Gafni, Pindrus, and Litov must be exposed."

Eyal Ostrinsky's response:

"The only fraudulent acts are those of the Eretz HaKodesh list, which pretends to have the support of leading Torah scholars for its election campaign, a support that is clearly nonexistent, as seen these days, and those of senior Degel HaTorah figures in Israel, Moshe Gafni and Yitzhak Pindrus, in their attempt to conceal their well-known involvement, or that of their close family members, in the national institutions and the Zionist movement.

Today, another development occurred, and Rabbi Hirsch joined Rabbi Lando in a firm ruling that the Haredi public is forbidden from participating in the elections and supporting the Eretz HaKodesh faction. As published, when asked whether he supports voting for the Eretz HaKodesh faction, he responded: They asked me abroad as well, and I told each and every one that we must listen to Rabbi Dov's words 100%, there's no room for doubt, and there's nothing more to say.

It's laughable that Knesset members Gafni and Pindrus, who ostensibly, along with their associates, claim to be subject to these important Torah scholars on fateful issues like conscription, Torah world support, forming or dissolving governments, and the like, suddenly find crooked and deceitful ways to bypass the clear and explicit rulings of those same Torah scholars when it comes to chasing personal or family jobs and budgets for specific purposes."