Slippery Slope

Many mayors continue to serve in their positions despite ongoing criminal proceedings being held against them. Among such mayors are Ramat-Gan Mayor Zvi Bar, Ramat-HaSharon Mayor, Yitzhak Rochberger, Petach-Tikva Mayor, Yitzhak Ochayon, and Bat-Yam Mayor, Shlomi Lahiani. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Ramat HaSharon City Hall’s Assets Department Director, Ayelet Shoshani Gino, was fired after she acted against an asset related to the sister of Mayor Yitzhak Rochberger. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew - Haaretz)

Over the past few weeks, dozens of municipal rabbis signed a rabbinical verdict prohibiting the rental of apartments to Arabs. Politicians active in the orthodox Zionist stream have started to sign rabbis onto the statement on this issue in order to lower the number of apartments rented to Arabs and to prevent Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safad, who has already prohibited the rental of apartments to non-Jews. The politicians hope that since dozens of municipal rabbis, all of whom receive salaries from the state, have joined the call, the State Prosecutor will understand that the position is a principled one, deriving from Jewish religious law (halacha), and that legal and criminal measures cannot be used against these rabbis. The letter was signed by the following  municipal rabbis, among others: Yaakov Edelstein of Ramat Hasharon, Yosef Sheinen of Ashdod, Moshe Hevelin of Qiryat Gat, David Wolfa of Rishon LeZion, Avraham Margalit of Carmiel, Zion Suderi of Gedera, Shmuel David of Afula, Simcha Hacohen of Rehovot, Azarya Basis of Rosh Hayain, Yitzchak Yaakobovitch of Herzliya, Yeshayahu Meitles of Nahariya, Yeshaya Herzl of Nazareth Illit, David Sedaka of Pardes Hannah, and Avraham Ohayun of Ofakim. (Hebrew, English)