2 months ago it was announced that a few evictees from Gush Katif, from the Disengagement, had filed suit in beis din against MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) for his having accepted the bribe of 290 million NIS for his political party in exchange for their vote and support of the Disengagement.
At the time I thought it was strange, no matter how wrong Gafni was for his role in the matter, that any one person, besides for the prime minister, should be held responsible for a decision made by the entire government. As well, it also did not sound like much of a case because Gafni could easily show that other parties paid off for their support were far more crucial to the vote than UTJ was. Gafni as well thought the case had no merit and tried to have it dismissed by claiming he only follows the orders of the gedolim, so any case should be brought against Rav Elyashiv and others.
According to this report on Kikar, the case has been heard in the beis din of Rav Levin and this week they have reached the stage of summarizing the claims. One of the claims, the one the case seems to be based on, is that Gafni lied and deceived Rav Elyashiv by presenting to him inaccurate information. This information was attested to by Rav Simcha HaKohein Kook, the chief rabbi of Rehovot, who testified that Rav Elyashiv himself had said he had been led astray by Gafni on the issue. Therefore, they claim, because we have testimony that Gafni lied to rav Elyashiv to get him to order them to vote in favor, Gafni cannot rely on "listenign to the gedolim" to protect him.
The beis din decided that there is enough basis to allow them to sue MK Gafni, and that Gafni cannot hide behind the claim of the gedolim told him what to do. Gafni's demand to go to beis din in Bnei Braq was rejected, and they must use a "zabla" beis din (ad hoc group of arbitrators chosen in agreement by both parties).
There are some other interesting points discussed in the beis dins protocols of the hearing:
page 1
page 2:
This case has turned into a bombshell. There is no way to get around the fact that the askanim are lying to the gedolim to influence how the gedolim give their instructions.
