Minister and billionaire tie into the election of the rabbi of Lod
Some of the materials gathered by police in the investigation of Mikhael and Yitzhak Miriliashvili indicate an unusual involvement of the interior minister in the attempt to appoint a chief rabbi affiliated with the billionaire in Lod, contrary to the position of the mayor.
For more than a year, Lod has had no state-appointed chief rabbi. Mayor Yair Revivo set his sights on appointing Rabbi Meir Biton, who is of Moroccan descent and affiliated with the Shas movement, while Deri and Shas have been actively pushing for the election of a rabbi of Georgian origin who is affiliated with billionaire Mirilashvili. One of the suspicions investigated is the transfer of large amounts of money from Mirlashvili and his son to an association headed by Deri's wife.
The municipality of Lod claimed that Deri used his people to put tremendous pressure on Shas representatives in the city, among others, to appoint Rabbi Yitzhak Mozgarshvili as chief rabbi of the city. Documents pointing to the apparent connection between Deri and Mirilashvili in the matter were also passed on to the state comptroller in order to show how Deri allegedly sought to help Mirilashvili.
A committee of 24 representatives elects the chief rabbi of the city. Twelve of the representatives are elected by the city council, which elected its representatives about a year ago: six by the minister of religious affairs and the mayor, and six other representatives are elected from within the city's synagogues. These 12 representatives were selected a few months ago. Rabbi Biton was supported by the mayor and most of the council factions and it seemed he had an absolute majority.
But the Lod municipality claimed that shortly before the elections that Deri and his men decided to intervene in the process, with the aim of dismantling the municipal coalition and bringing about the election of Rabbi Muzgarshvili. After realizing that his deputy and coalition partner Eliahu Maman of Shas intended to support Muzgarshvili, Mayor Revivo announced that he was dismissing him.
In the minutes of one of the meetings, Revivo threatened that he would appeal to the state comptroller and to the attorney general to intervene in the proceedings.
According to testimonies from officials in Lod, some of whom were transferred to the police, businessmen and interested parties spoke with the members of the selection committee and the council members, and tried to influence them to replace their representatives on the committee, so that the support would be transferred from Rabbi Biton to Rabbi Muzgarshvili. Mayor Revivo threatened the Ministry of Religious Affairs that he would appeal to the High Court of Justice if they did not convene the committee to elect the city's rabbi.
Deri addressed the investigation for the first time this week. At the memorial ceremony for his mother, Deri thanked those present: "Thank you for everything that is happening, for the whole investigation and for everything that is happening. We have no complaints. Just thank you. We ask for nothing and we are not complaining, just thank you."
