A fierce political confrontation has broken out within Israel’s governing coalition following the election of a new local rov in Savion, ending an 11-year vacancy and igniting an unusually public war of words between United Torah Judaism and Shas.

After more than a decade without a serving rov, Rabbi Uri Sadan was elected on Tuesday as rabbi of the Savion Local Council. Rabbi Sadan, who leads the Oz VeHadar community in Petach Tikva and previously served as Savion’s chief rabbi, won in a landslide, receiving 16 votes compared to just three for the Shas-backed candidate, Rabbi Shlomo Meir Amor.

The decisive outcome followed the collapse of a political arrangement forged by Shas with the head of the local council, which ultimately failed at the ballot box. That breakdown paved the way for Rabbi Sadan’s victory. He is identified with the Tzohar rabbinic network, a fact that gave the result broader political significance far beyond the local appointment. The position had been closely watched for years and was widely considered a coveted post.

The results immediately sparked an open and acrimonious dispute between coalition partners. Knesset member Moshe Gafni, chairman of Degel HaTorah, launched a sharp attack on Shas, accusing the party of sabotaging a unified chareidi effort.

“Due to Shas’s insistence on not supporting Degel HaTorah’s candidate for the Savion rabbinate, and after their own candidate received a total of only three votes, neither a Shas candidate nor a Degel HaTorah candidate was elected — and instead a Tzohar candidate was chosen,” Gafni said. “Anyone who follows their conduct in religious services and rabbinic appointments knows that this is their way.”

Shas responded swiftly and aggressively, rejecting Gafni’s claims and accusing him of focusing on political patronage at a time of existential challenges for the chareidi community. In a statement, the party said it was “fully occupied with the critical struggle to save the Torah world and prevent the arrest of yeshiva students,” and expressed dismay that Degel HaTorah’s leader was, in their words, “choosing to deal with jobs instead of the real challenges of the hour.”

Shas further sought to undermine Gafni’s argument by pointing to the vote totals themselves. According to the party, Degel HaTorah’s own candidate — a Savion native — ran and received zero votes. “Zero,” the statement emphasized. “How exactly did Shas’s three votes prevent his election? How long will Moshe Gafni continue to mislead the public and blame others for his own failures?”

The exchange escalated further when Gafni’s office fired back with a blunt rebuttal, accusing Shas of refusing to cooperate while insisting its candidate would win. “You refused to unite forces and claimed your candidate would prevail,” the statement read. “Your jobs enterprise has suffered a crushing failure.”

While the chareidi parties traded accusations, the national-religious political camp celebrated the outcome. Leaders in that sector framed Rabbi Sadan’s appointment as a significant achievement. Religious Zionism chairman and cabinet minister Bezalel Smotrich congratulated Rabbi Sadan publicly, praising the religious-Zionist yeshiva world for producing talmidei chachomim who “combine deep learning with public engagement and active involvement in Israeli society.”

{Matzav.com}