Influential Israeli Zionist rabbi Haim Druckman dies

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Rabbi Haim Druckman, spiritual leader of the religious Zionist movement in Israel, died on Sunday aged 90 after contracting Covid-19, a Jerusalem hospital said.

For decades Druckman was the most important figure in the religious Zionist movement, which represents roughly 12 percent of Israel´s Jewish population.

“The Hadassah hospital announces with sorrow the death of rabbi Haim Druckman,” the facility said in a statement, adding that he had been hospitalised for 10 days.

Hadassah had said in a previous statement that Druckman had contracted Covid-19.

The religious school he presided over said he was 90 years old.

Druckman was a mentor to Israeli politician Bezalel Smotrich from the Religious Zionism political bloc, an extreme-right alliance.

Smotrich is set to be finance minister in incoming premier Benjamin Netanyahu´s new government.

“The Jewish people have lost one of the spiritual giants of his generation, a just (person), an educator, a man who dedicated his life to the Torah, to the Jewish people and the land of Israel,” Smotrich said in a statement.

Netanyahu expressed his condolences to Druckman´s family, saying that Israel “has lost a great spiritual leader”.