Due to Temple Mount ascent: Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef's ruling against right-wing parties

Former Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef published a sharp letter halakhically prohibiting support for parties that endorse ascending the Temple Mount, warning against giving political backing to those who lead the public to commit a sin punishable by karet.

Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Rishon LeZion Gaon Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, published today (Sunday) a pointed handwritten letter in which he rules that it is halakhically forbidden to support parties that endorse ascending the Temple Mount. In his letter, the Rabbi sharply criticizes 'public figures who define themselves as nationalists and sanctify ascending the Temple Mount, leading the public to commit the sin of karet.' The Rabbi clarifies that one who supports a party of a Temple Mount ascender and encourages the ascent is as if he himself is committing the sin of karet, and therefore it is forbidden by halakha to support such a party. The Rabbi further warns against attempts by politicians to make public gains at the expense of sensitive halakhic matters, and forbids giving 'any hand or recognition to those factors that harm the sanctities of Israel and mislead the public.'