A controversial religious ruling by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner prohibiting votes for former IDF general Ofer Winter's political party has sparked strong reactions within Israel's religious Zionist community. The ruling objects to the inclusion of Yosef Haddad, an Arab Israeli advocacy activist, on Winter's slate.
Rabbi Avraham Stav, a prominent religious Zionist authority, issued a pointed response challenging the ruling's validity. "Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is a Torah scholar of great merit, but his current ruling against Yosef Haddad's candidacy is a curiosity," Rabbi Stav stated.
He argued that the position contradicts mainstream halakhic (Jewish legal) consensus on non-Jewish representation in Israel's Knesset parliament:
"It would be difficult to count the number of Israeli rabbis who have supported, directly or indirectly, parties that included non-Jewish members. Even the most stringent authorities, such as Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, deliberated only about a government relying on non-Jews for its majority, but never considered opposing their appointment as Knesset members.
It's unfortunate that this ruling occupies space in public discourse and becomes the face of halakha and the religious Zionist sector."
