Shas Council of Torah Sages member and former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, has raised his rhetoric against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a closed conversation published by Galei Tzahal on Sunday, Rabbi Yosef said that he is leaning toward dismantling Netanyahu's bloc with United Torah Judaism, and prefers Gadi Eisenkot as a candidate for Prime Minister.
Rabbi Yosef said that Shas may support Eisenkot in the upcoming elections, adding that he hopes that UTJ would also join the move. He noted that he intends to express open support closer to election day.
According to the rabbi, "Gadi Esenkot is a good person, a warm Jew, he loves those who study Torah, his grandmother voted Shas and wanted him to be a rabbi; while that didn't happen, you could trust him."
He added, "We can go with him in the upcoming elections, we can support him to be the next prime minister." He later spoke out against the Prime Minister: "Netanyahu cheated us on the conscription law and other things. He can not be trusted; he's a liar."
During his weekly lecture on Saturday night, Rabbi Yosef said: "We live, unfortunately, in a secular country, not a haredi one. We pray that everyone repents. Some have repented, and some I don't believe will repent."
At that point, he began listing senior politicians and directly targeted Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Bibi Netanyahu will repent? There is no chance."
At the same time, the rabbi made a surprising remark about the head of the Yashar party: "Eisenkot may repent."