Top Rabbi Calls to Boycott Ben-Gvir's Party Over Temple Mount Visits

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, head of the Council of Torah Sages of the Shas movement and former Chief Rabbi of Israel, has sharply criticized the Otzma Yehudit party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Yosef called for boycotting the party in elections, citing its members' encouragement of ascents to the Temple Mount, which he described as a violation of Jewish religious teachings.

In a statement released Sunday titled "A Holy Call and a Dangerous Warning," Yosef attacked the party and its representatives, asserting their stance on ascending the Temple Mount contradicts the consensus of major Jewish religious scholars throughout generations who prohibited such visits, according to his religious interpretation. He stated that individuals identifying as religious and belonging to Otzma Yehudit encourage ascents to the Temple Mount and grant it religious significance, which he views as leading the public toward serious religious transgressions. Yosef added that the party's representatives appearing in the media promoting their views on ascending the site constitutes, in his words, "a desecration of God's name and the desecration of the First and Second Temples," stressing the need to protest these practices and deny them religious or political legitimacy.

Yosef's position extended beyond the religious aspect, as he directly urged the public not to support the party at the ballot box, considering voting for them as contributing to the promotion of positions he deems contrary to Jewish teachings. The statement declared a "categorical prohibition and a duty to protest against providing assistance to their party, and it is forbidden to grant them power in elections." He considered anyone who votes for the party bears religious responsibility for supporting these positions, according to his view, and called for refraining from supporting any entity that encourages ascents to the site, directly or indirectly.

This stance places the Shas movement, which bases its political discourse on Jewish religious authorities, in opposition to Otzma Yehudit on a sensitive religious issue concerning the Temple Mount. The core of the dispute is the ascent to the Temple Mount, the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, considered one of the most sensitive religious and political locations. While some Jewish religious authorities prohibit ascents, other currents, including figures in Otzma Yehudit, support visits and ascents to the location.

Yosef based his position on the approach of his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader and founder of the Shas movement, who passed away in 2013, referencing his rejections of those who encouraged ascents to the Temple Mount. He concluded his message by emphasizing the need not to support any entity that advocates for ascents to the site, urging the public to adhere to what he sees as a clear religious stance.

These statements come as recent opinion polls indicate that Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party is projected to win approximately seven seats in the Knesset. Yosef's call may open a debate within religious and political circles regarding the relationship between religious positions and electoral choices, particularly on issues where rabbinical authorities and right-wing parties hold differing views.