Eight days before the elections, Shas leader Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Yosef has issued a severe halachic ruling against voting for Itamar Ben Gvir and Moshe Feiglin over their ascents to Har Habayis.

In a letter obtained first by Belaaz News, Rav Yosef writes: “Public figures have arisen who define themselves as nationalists, from various parties, who raise a hand against Hashem and His Torah and sanctify ascending the Temple Mount, causing the public to stumble in a prohibition punishable by kareis, under the pretext of nationalism.”

“Besides provoking the nations of the world by doing so, there is no permission whatsoever to cause the public to stumble in prohibitions of kareis for the sake of sovereignty and the like, and it is simple and clear that one must protest against them with full force,” Rav Yosef adds.

With the elections approaching and a wave of chareidi voters drifting toward the two, Rav Yosef rules:

“There is a complete and absolute prohibition to assist their party and their representative, and it is forbidden to give them power in the upcoming elections. Whoever votes for this party shall bear his sin, and the burden of the kareis prohibition hangs on his neck.”