An investigative report by Israel’s Channel 12 says Dudi Azrieli, a veteran Shas-linked producer, won multiple lucrative public tenders after Yehuda Avidan became director-general of the Ministry of Religious Services in January 2023. The report also says the two spent the Shavuot holiday together at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, raising questions about their relationship and the ministry’s tender process.
Azrieli, whose company Azrieli Productions began with posters and campaign materials for Shas leader Aryeh Deri, later expanded into a business generating hundreds of millions of shekels, much of it from public funds. The report notes earlier concerns about his ties to Shas, including a finding by the inspector of the Zionist institutions that there may have been a conflict of interest when a unit headed by Yanaki Deri, Aryeh Deri’s son, worked with Azrieli Productions on an event abroad.
According to the investigation, within a month of Avidan taking office, the ministry issued tenders for the Lag BaOmer-style pilgrimage events for Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes in Tiberias and Baba Sali in Netivot. Azrieli won both contracts, each valued at about 10 million shekels. Documents obtained by Channel 12 included signed agreements for the Baba Sali event, and later protocol from a tenders committee chaired by Avidan extended Azrieli’s contracts for both pilgrimages. His company also received work on the Or HaChaim pilgrimage on the Mount of Olives and the Samuel the Prophet pilgrimage.
The report says that during Shavuot, Avidan and Azrieli vacationed at the David Citadel Hotel, with the reservation made by Azrieli through a travel agency. The booking covered six rooms, two for Azrieli’s family and four for Avidan and his children, Oria, Mirit, and Nissim, with their families. Hotel emails included invoices and room details, and footage showed the two men checking out together on May 23, the holiday’s end. Channel 12 calculated the Avidan family’s stay cost more than 50,000 shekels.
After the network requested comment, Avidan submitted documents showing he and his children transferred money to the travel agency about two and a half weeks after the vacation, one day after he was questioned by Lahav 433 in another case. Avidan said he first met Azrieli only after becoming director-general, denied any personal or friendly relationship, said the tenders were approved lawfully, and said he and his family paid for the hotel stay themselves. Azrieli denied funding or booking Avidan’s trip and said there was no shared private vacation.
