Current sectionIsrael NewsIsrael Political NewsThe ministry's director general and another top official, both of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, were caught on tape threatening to release materials against a local religious council head if he did not cancel a fellow party member's dismissal hearingShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe03:42 PM • June 08 2026 IDTTwo senior officials from Israel's Religious Services Ministry were questioned by police on Sunday after they were caught on tape threatening to release "tons" of unflattering material against a local bureaucrat if he fires a fellow party member. CommentsIn the NewsTwo Government Officials Questioned Over Threats Against Party Man's DismissalIsrael Attacks Lebanon 3,500 Times Since April Cease-fire, Lebanese PM SaysClose to 140 U.K. Labour MPs Call to Ban Trade With West Bank SettlementsAmid Another Round With Iran, Israel Faces a $15 Billion Defense Budget GapIsrael's New 'Iran Spies': Young, Broke and Mostly CluelessRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMI'We Were Ordered to Kill': The 1967 Nakba That Israelis Don't Know About'Israel Is Unstoppable, We Need Other Countries to Get Us Out of This''Fucking Crazy': Trump Lashes Out at Netanyahu Over Lebanon, Report SaysThe Paradigm That Led to Oct. 7 Didn't Collapse, It Was Fiction From the StartHow the U.S. Air Force Is Turning Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport Into Its Own Base'Server in the Sky': How Israeli Drones Became a 'Target Generator' Over Gaza