Justice Minister Yariv Levin, along with a number of other Likud cabinet ministers visited the sukkah of convicted criminal and Herzliya municipal candidate Rafi Haim-Kedoshim on Monday as a show of support ahead of the elections at the end of the month.
Haim-Kedoshim is running in the Likud primary in Herzliya. In the past, he served four years in prison after being convicted of violence, kidnapping, blackmail, and check-discounting fraud.Haim-Kedoshim’s family was very active in criminal activities a few years ago, and weapons were found in several of his relatives’ homes, including his own.
Levin, Energy Minister Israel Katz, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan, Women’s Advancement Minister May Golan, and Likud MK Keti Shitrit endorsed Haim-Kedoshim during their visit to his sukkah.
“Let there be no mistake on one thing: We need to give back to this man, who has worked for everyone all year for so many years,” Levin said during the visit. “We need to give back to him in force on Election Day and vote for him for the Herzliya [Municipal] Council.
“I am here today to talk of nothing else but one thing: our joint efforts to ensure that at the end of the coming elections, Rafi stands at the head of the biggest faction on the Municipal Council,” he said. “This is our objective, and it’s a possible objective if we make sure not to give up on anyone. There’s a campaign, and there’s hasbara [public diplomacy], and there are many things. At the end of the elections for mayor, the deciding factor is each of us.”
Opposition members respond to Levin's visit
Opposition MKs criticized the visit.
Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben Ari said that she had considered not saying anything on the subject but felt it to be her responsibility as a public servant for the sake of the citizens.
“I’m scrolling through my feed and seeing people and journalists, who have doubtlessly never even visited the city, tweeting about Haim-Kedoshim as a rehabilitated criminal and even comparing him to former prime minister [Ehud] Olmert, and that’s just crazy,” she said. “The Likud’s support of a convicted criminal, who blackmailed, attacked, humiliated, threatened, and made the lives of innocents into living nightmares, for the City Council and then let him sit in the seats of decision-makers is insane.
“It has nothing to do with Right and Left. These are the lives of citizens that are at risk. Many are looking and worrying but don’t dare to speak out. The support from Likud officials headed by the justice minister is mafia behavior. I don’t have another word for it,” Ben Ari said.
Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky likened the endorsement to the crime wave that plagues the country.“The wave of violence and terror that the crime organizations instill in the citizens of Israel is no surprise when ministers and MKs from the Likud flatter Rafi Kedoshim from the Kedoshim crime family – a criminal who had prison sentences for violence and blackmail and whose son was convicted of shooting businessman Eli Taviv,” she said.
“And even worse, they are endorsing him for the municipal elections at the head of the Likud list in Herzliya.So, when the justice minister ingratiates himself to a crime family for the sake of party primaries, how the hell do we expect this criminal government to deal with crime and criminal organizations?”