One of the rabbis Chabad backs, Shmuel Eliyahu, is known for making extreme and racist statements and will likely face a recall petition in the High Court of Justice of he is elected.
The late rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Material inside square brackets [ ] is mine.
Yeshiva World reports:
It appears the Chabad rabbonim [rabbis] who are counted among the 150 voters selecting Israel’s new chief rabbis are likely to select Rabbi Yaakov Shapira and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.
Leading Chabad Rov/Posek [rabbi/decisor of halakha, Orthodox Jewish law] Rav [Rabbi] Tuvia Blau[, sic – the name is actually “Bloi”] Shlita, who heads the Chabad community in [the Jerusalem suburb of] N’vei Yaakov, published a letter calling on the Chabad rabbonim [rabbis] to vote for these two rabbonim [rabbis]. He adds that “it appears to me these are the only two candidates that any of the non-frum [non-Orthodox] voters among the 150 [delegates who choose Israel’s chief rabbis] will not vote for.”
It is significant to point out the rav’s letter is not a directive, [it is instead] published under the banner “a point for reflection”. The rav reminds his colleagues that the Rebbe regarding the Chief Rabbinate of Israel [called it] the “Rabbanut of the Government”, [meaning he was] well aware of the system by which they are elected. Nevertheless Rav Blau decides to give his input regarding the upcoming election, citing שבהשגחה פרטית [that by hasgacha pratit, the hidden intervention of God on the workings of the world that controls even the lives of each individual] the Chabad rabbonim [rabbis] are included in the group of 150.
Some of the points highlighted by Rav Blau:
1) These two rabbonim are friends and maintain an excellent working relationship with one another.
2) Their Yiras Shomayim precedes their Chochma.
3) It is know the two possess vast Torah knowledge.
4) They have expressed daas Torah [publicly stated their legal rulings on political or social issues] regarding issues at hand [the peace process, land for peace, etc.] without any hesitation.
5) Their pristine reputations are above reproach.
6) Above all, the relationship they maintained with the late Rebbe ZT”L ZY”A. Their admiration for the Rebbe on the one hand and his mutual feelings for them.
Rav Blau is confident that if elected, the two will carry on the work of their late father’s ZT”L. [Eliyahu's father was a former Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and a leader of the hard right wing Zionist Orthodox; Shapira's father was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel at the same time and was a mentor of the hard right wing Zionist Orthodox. Both Shapira and Eliyahu have continued their father's hard right wing political positions and have even become more extreme than they were.]