Mansour Abbas, head of the Ra'am party
Mansour Abbas, head of the Ra'am partyOlivier Fitoussi/Flash90

A group of leading religious Zionist rabbis published a letter Monday supporting the position of Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich against forming a government with the support of the United Arab List.

The letter was signed by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Rabbi Haim Druckman, Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, Rabbi David Chai HaCohen, Rabbi Zvi Yisrael Tau, Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Haim Steiner.

"The leadership of the Jewish State must be completely in the hands of the Jewish people," the rabbis wrote in their letter. "Every government in Israel must rely on Jewish parties."

The rabbis stressed: "A government in Israel must not be based on Arab parties with Islamic national aspirations."

"We call on elected officials not to be tempted by pretty words whose whole purpose is to blind the eyes of the public in Israel and prepare - G-d forbid - the creep of forming a government in Israel with the support of our enemies. God forbid that we solve the governmental crisis in which, unfortunately, the State of Israel finds itself in a way that we will pay a heavy price for many more years, and at the end of it, who will lead us," the rabbis said.