A 3-judge panel of Israel's High Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the country's Chief Rabbinate must convene a disciplinary panel to try Safed's Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu. Jerusalem Post and Haaretz report on the decision. At issue are a number of statements by Eliyahu critical of Arabs and of the LGBTQ community. Also at issue are political statements by Eliyahu. The judges each wrote about the balance between free speech and limits on what a state-funded municipal rabbi may say. Now, according to Jerusalem Post:
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn of the Blue and White Party now needs to request that Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef form a disciplinary panel for Eliyahu.
Yosef needs to form that panel, consisting of a rabbinical court judge or emeritus judge and two municipal chief rabbis, within 30 days. The panel can record a note in Eliyahu’s file, issue him with a warning, reprimand him or dismiss him from his position.
