JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas political party Wednesday urged the prime minister to keep conversions in the hands of the chief rabbi.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ordered Shas to express his discontent with legislation allowing the country to automatically approve conversions carried out by the army without the chief rabbi's signature, Israel's Ynet news reported.
Yosef said the bill approved by a Knesset committee on Sunday counters coalition agreements.
Following a meeting with the party chairman and two ministers, he demanded that Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu vote against the measure.
"The next thing will be a decision that the army can marry couples and issue kosher certificates independently," Yosef said. "We are one people and there is no reason for this."
The Shas Party wants Israeli law to place all conversions under the chief rabbinate's authority.
