Local rabbonim in Eretz Yisroel and the Diaspora have expressed dismay and outrage over Shas' ongoing ties with the World Zionist Organization. At a WZO meeting held last week 20 Shas delegates were appointed to the Zionist Congress.
The meeting, led by World Likud Chairman Danny Danon, was held as a prelude to the upcoming WZO elections. A second meeting is expected to convene next month in advance of the elections.
At the meeting, which was attended by Shas representative Yigal Bibi, a former National Religious Party MK, it was decided that Shas would receive 20 of the 190 delegates chosen according to their political alignments and would be free to choose its representatives to fill the 20 slots.
A clash erupted during the meeting between a Shas representative and Meretz representatives, as each claimed its list is Zionist and the other is not.
Local rabbonim have expressed deep pain over Shas' persistent rebelliousness by maintaining ties with the Zionist organization, which has been banned by all gedolei hadoros.
They again noted that at the time of its founding gedolei Yisroel issued clear warnings against the WZO, and only the Mizrachi movement perpetrated a breach by joining it, claiming "we have rabbonim, too, and they have permitted it." That move eventually led to a rift that has yet to mend to this day, separating Chassidus and the Torah world from the Mizrachi movement and national-religious circles.
