Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Rabbi Shmuel EliyahuHillel Meir

The Reform Movement presented an appeal to the Supreme Court, demanding that legal action be taken against the Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Tzfat as the movement claims he is “inciting violence against the Arab community.”

The Reform Movement is demanding that legal action be taken against Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, son of the late Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Mordecai Eliyahu and a leader in the Religious Zionist sector, because of what they define as “inciting violence against the Arab public.”

On Wednesday, the Reform Movement, Tag Meir and The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) petitioned the Supreme Court to put Rabbi Eliyahu on trial.

They claim that the rabbi has, for a long time, been inciting violence against the Arab public and forcefully criticizing the judicial system, despite the fact that he is a civil servant whose salary is funded by the state.

The petitioners claim that “he is abusing his position and ignoring the law that prohibits political statements from those whose salaries are paid by the state. “

In the appeal it was claimed that, “The existence of rabbis who receive their salary from the State, but incite violence against non-Jews, and Arabs specifically, has become a terrible phenomenon.”