The National Religious Party today adopted a resolution backing Yitzhak Rafael, who resigned yesterday from the post of Deputy Minister of Health, after a special report made to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol accused Mr. Rafael of having known about kickbacks from contractors. Yehuda Spiegel, the Ministry’s former Deputy Director-General, was sentenced recently to two years’ imprisonment for having received such kickbacks, and Mr. Eshkol had a probe of the issue conducted by District Judge Moshe Gaulan.
The National Religious Party, in its resolution, expressed “shock and great regret” over the charges against Mr. Rafael, pledged to support his promised legal fight for clearance of his name, and stated that the Gaulan report “cast a shadow upon the name of a veteran and esteemed colleague.” Religious Affairs Minister Zorach Warhaftig and I. Ben-Meir, Deputy Minister of the Interior, criticized the Gaulan report severely, declaring its findings were “illogical and inconsistent.”
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