Netanyahu intervenes in conversion authority chief appointment amid religious-Zionist coalition opposition
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to approve the appointment of Rabbi Avishai Taharani as head of Israel’s Conversion Authority, despite his selection by a search committee about a year ago.
Netanyahu’s decision follows opposition from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who seeks to appoint Rabbi Yehuda Amichai, the authority’s acting head, arguing he was promised the post would go to a rabbi from the Religious Zionist camp.
In a letter to Acting Civil Service Commissioner Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Netanyahu said Taharani lacks sufficient familiarity with the scope and complexity of the role and is therefore unfit for the position.
The Conversion Authority remains without a permanent head as Israel is home to around 400,000 citizens without religious status who live as Jews. Rabbi Taharani is known for his relatively lenient approach to conversions.
Kan.org.il is the Hebrew news website of the The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation
