The Jerusalem Post reports:
The battle over the future of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has moved to the Knesset with MKs from various parties trying to bring legislation that would end his term of office.
Attorney General Menahem Mazuz announced two months ago that while there was not enough evidence to indict Metzger over accepting bribes, there was still sufficient grounds for forcing him to step down from his position, especially as he had apparently changed his version three times under police questioning.…
Metzger refused to resign and received the backing of the Chief Rabbinate Council and senior rabbis who objected to the attorney general's attempt to remove a serving rabbi from his post..…
Metzger's aides are blaming the attorney general for exhorting the MKs to legislate against him.
Sources in the Justice Ministry denied that Mazuz had initiated any parliamentary action and said he had been approached on the subject. They stressed that all the candidates for the Chief Rabbinate had been told three years ago that there was a possibility that legislation limiting their terms might be introduced and that they were not guaranteed ten years on the job.
One obstacle standing in the face of any legislation could be the coalition agreement between Kadima and Shas that includes the promise that no changes would be made to the status quo on religious matters.
MKs involved in the attempt said they believed Shas could be convinced not to oppose the legislation if it were ensured that Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, a disciple of the party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, would be allowed to remain in his post.
There is no good solution to this problem. On one hand, it is necessary to remove the ethically challenged and woefully under qualified Rabbi Metzger from office. On the other hand, we are left with the thuggish and ethically challeneged Rabbi Amar as the only remaining chief rabbi. Truly sad.