Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef strongly criticized Rabbi Chaim Druckman, one of the leading rabbis of the Religious Zionist movement, over his personal support for the authority of municipal rabbis to perform conversions in Israel.
Rabbi Yosef said: "Rabbi Druckman said he agreed that there could be conversions of city rabbis, but only with the consent of the Chief Rabbinate. I'm amazed at him. How could he agree to this? Rabbi Elyashiv objected to it. My father [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef] objected to it. All the leaders of the generation objected to it. With all due respect to Rabbi Druckman, is he like [my father] when it comes to Torah? Is he like Rabbi Elyashiv? What a gap [exists between him and them] ..."
"So how can you disagree with [my father]? How can you disagree with Rabbi Elyashiv? They are against [increased powers] for municipal rabbis because they want to give them the same authority as the rabbi of Shoham [Rabbi Stav of Tzohar]. That's their goal, so how can you say it's 'good'? What's good about it? It's the worst, and it must be fought," he said.
"If they do such a thing, I will enter the Rabbinical Council and maybe we will decide in coordination with the great men of Israel to compile a sefer yuchsin [a genealogical record of those who are genuinely Jews as opposed to those converted dubiously -ed.] ... They are destroying the vineyard of Israel [ie. the purity of Jewish stock -ed.]," Rabbi Yosef warned.
Rabbi Yosef claimed that there are rabbis who apply the Torah incorrectly. "I was shown an article by the rabbi of Shoham. What did he write? That conversion can be linked to the nationalistic sentiment of the people of Israel. A convert can be traditional. And if he really is traditional, he should come to the synagogue and make Kiddush, and then go to the beach - that's what traditional means - and these types of people can be converted. What is this thing? It betrays an incorrect interpretation of the Torah."
"Or take the example of someone who wrote an approbation for the book 'Zera Yisrael': I agree to convert all those who immigrated from Russia, provided they stop going to church and keep Shabbat 'to some extent.' If I hadn't seen such words myself, I would not have believed them," Rabbi Yosef added.