Rabbi Tzvi Tau, head of Yeshivat Har Hamor and the rabbi of MK Yoni Chetboun, felt the need to clarify on Friday that he distances himself from Chetboun’s Yachad – Ha’am Itanu party headed by Eli Yishai, after it included Baruch Marzel of Otzma Yehudit in its list.
Rabbi Tau’s decision evidently comes due to his opinion that Jews should not ascend to the Temple Mount over a fear that they may enter forbidden areas. For his part, Yishai’s rabbinic counsel Rabbi Meir Mazuz has ruled that Jews should visit the holiest site in Judaism as long as they avoid those areas.
In tense talks to form a joint list, one of the last minute demands leveled by Rabbi Tau on Marzel was to obligate himself not to ascend to the Mount, which Marzel refused, leading the rabbi to pull his support.
Marzel’s party had previously consulted with Rabbi Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Hevron – Kiryat Arba, who told them to refuse the demand. Otzma Yehudit wants the Mount to be a central issue, demanding that it be freed from the discriminatory de facto Jordanian Waqf control that forbids Jewish prayer, and attempts to erase the Jewish nature of the site.
Rabbi Tau wrote a “clarification” letter in which he said “the founding of this party in its current formation and selecting its representatives (after it joined with the enthusiastic) was done not according to me and without my agreement.”
“I know how to make plenty of noise alone”
Despite the rabbi’s decision to pull his support, Chetboun ended up not following through with a last minute threat to resign from the party on Thursday, and that night the party presented its list with Marzel on the fourth spot, after Otzma Yehudit head former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari was removed from the list due to a demand by Yishai’s party.
After submitting the list, Marzel told Arutz Sheva “I will fill the great void that Ben-Ari left here in the Knesset and I will fight against the unity of the enemies of Israel that are poised to grow thanks to (Avigdor) Liberman.”
The statement refers to the fact that Liberman is likely to join a leftist coalition headed by Labor, after revealing his national plan that is replete with massive land concessions.
“After the elections apparently I’ll split off into a lone faction,” said Marzel, explaining the technical bloc method by which the two parties joined so that Yishai can join a Likud coalition and Otzma Yehudit can ensure its ideological red lines aren’t crossed in the opposition. “Believe me, I know how to make plenty of noise alone.”
Marzel started off strongly in that goal, refusing to shake hands with Central Elections Committee chair judge Salim Joubran, who “just recently…asked to cancel the punishment of the terrorist (MK) Hanin Zoabi, and in a session I was present at he behaved with her with fondness.”
“Joubran isn’t loyal to the people of Israel and I don’t shake hands with those who act against us,” said Marzel. Joubran raised a storm in 2012 by refusing to sing Hatikva, the national anthem of the state of Israel.
