Hebron Chief Rabbi Pulls Support from Bennett’s Party

By: Yori Yanover

Published: January 4th, 2013

Rabbi Dov Lior and MK Michael Ben Ari at a press conference in Hebron, March 29, 2012.
Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90

Rabbi Dov Lior, a leading figure in the Tekumah party that merged with Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home's Knesset list, has withdrawn his support from that same list. The website Srugim revealed that Rabbi Lior was furious when he saw his name appear in campaign ads for Jewish Home, as part of an extensive list of rabbis supporting the party.

Rabbi Lior, who founded Tekumah together with Arutz 7 owner Rabbi Zalman Melamed and Rabbi Chaim Steiner, is the chief rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba, the dean of the Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva, and heads the Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria.

Over the past few months, Rabbi Lior has been expressing his dissatisfaction with the way MK Michael Ben Ari, who now runs on the Power for Israel list, was pushed out of the united list by his colleagues. Initially, Rabbi Lior refused to take public measures against Jewish Home, partly because he is related to MK Uri Ariel—who, according to Ben Ari's camp was instrumental in his ousting, and to Orit Struck, who is a contender on the Jewish Home list.
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