Rabbi Aviner Opposes Placing Arab On Jewish Knesset List, But Other Rabbis Disagree

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, president of Ateret Kohanim Yeshiva and one of the prominent rabbis of the Religious Zionist movement, has spoken out against Ofer Winter’s new Amcha Yisrael party over its decision to place public diplomacy activist Yoseph Haddad second on its electoral slate.

According to a report by Ynet, Rabbi Aviner was asked during a lesson to his students whether it was permissible to vote for a party whose second candidate is not Jewish. He responded unequivocally that positions of leadership over the nation cannot be entrusted to a non-Jewish person. Even a righteous gentile, he said, could serve only as a private citizen and not as a leader in the Land of Israel.

The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization pushed back against Rav Aviner’s criticism, stressing that leading Jewish legal authorities have already ruled that it is permissible to vote for non-Jewish candidates.

“Yoseph Haddad is a person who has done and continues to do much for the State of Israel, both in Israel and around the world, and he was even wounded during his military service defending the country,” Tzohar said.

The organization pointed to a biblical example of a non-Jewish figure being entrusted with a senior position of leadership.

“Already in the Bible, we find an example of leadership that is not measured solely according to a person’s origins,” the rabbis said. “King David appointed Ittai the Gittite, who was a foreigner, as a senior commander in his army because he was a loyal man who acted on behalf of the king and the kingdom.”

Tzohar argued that the same principle can apply in modern Israel. “Even today, in the State of Israel, there are non-Jewish citizens who act with dedication on behalf of the country, defend it and contribute to its resilience,” the organization said. “Appointing and promoting such people, when they have the public’s trust and act loyally toward the state and its laws, does not contradict Israel’s Jewish identity. Rather, it is an expression of the country’s strength and its ability to integrate all of its citizens.”

The rabbis further cited the rulings of prominent halachic authorities, including Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog and Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, arguing that Jewish law permits non-Jews to be elected to the Knesset and that the traditional restrictions concerning the appointment of a “king” do not apply to a modern democratic system of government.

“Accordingly, it is permissible to vote for an Arab candidate who is loyal to the state,” Tzohar said, noting that throughout Israel’s history, both Jewish and non-Jewish citizens have served in the Knesset and, in various circumstances, in government.

The Amcha Yisrael party also rejected the criticism. Leader Ofer Winter emphasized that he himself had fought under the command of and alongside Druze, Bedouin and Christian commanders and soldiers, including Brig. Gen. Imad Fares, Brig. Gen. Ihsan Daqsa, who was killed in northern Gaza, and other officers such as Salman Habaka.

Addressing Haddad, Winter said that he was just as worthy of leadership as he had been worthy of commanding troops and being wounded fighting for the country.

 Yoseph Haddad

Haddad, 41, was born into an Arab Christian family in Nazareth. He served as a Golani Brigade combat soldier and lost his leg after being wounded during the Second Lebanon War.

Since his injury, Haddad has devoted himself to pro-Israel advocacy and combating antisemitism. At the launch of Amcha Yisrael, he said he hoped to become Israel’s minister for public diplomacy and the first Arab member of the Security Cabinet.