Education Minister Naftali Bennett blamed the Chief Rabbinate on Monday night for the establishment of new independent rabbinical courts for conversion in Israel.
"In a healthy condition, all the religious services of the state of Israel, including conversion, would be under the auspices of the state's official body, ie the Chief Rabbinate," Bennett explained. "Unfortunately, the rabbinate is functioning improperly and therefore other bodies for conversion were established."
"This may be the Rabbinate's last opportunity to pull itself together and fix the deficiencies, thereby obviating the need for new bodies."