Shneur Odze

Shneur Zalman Odze (born 3 March 1981) is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and UK Independence Party (UKIP) politician.
Political career.
Odze was elected as a Conservative Party councillor for the New River ward on Hackney London Borough Council in 2002. He was suspended from the council in 2004. He was a Conservative candidate in Bury council elections in 2004 and 2006 (Sedgley ward) and then in the Salford City Council elections in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012. He stood for UKIP in the 2014 Salford City Council election.
Odze was a UKIP candidate for the North West England in the European Election 2014. During the campaign, he declined to shake hands with female voters due to his religious beliefs, which prohibit physical contact with any woman other than his wife. One of the party's regional organisers resigned in protest. 
In 2014 he joined with other Israelis to travel to Bradford in protest after George Galloway declared the city an "Israel-free zone".
Odze helped to set up the "Friends of Israel in UKIP", the logo of which featured a pound sign in the centre of a star of David. When it was pointed out that linking Jews and money had unfortunate connotations, Odze said this was more oversight than conspiracy. He condemned the party's policy against religious slaughter as "wrong". 
He sought the UKIP nomination for the 2016 London mayoral election, but was unsuccessful. He was the UKIP candidate in the 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, where he came sixth with 1.9% of the vote. At a Manchester hustings he was criticised by Jane Brophy, the Liberal Democrat candidate because he refused to shake her hand. She said he should treat women and men equally.
He is said to be a close confidant of Nigel Farage and Paul Nuttall.
Personal life.
Odze's mother comes from Morocco, and his grandfather from Poland. He was brought up in Hackney, and has an Israeli passport. He is married with four daughters.
In 2017 Odze burned a Hebrew-English Bible which had been placed in a synagogue without permission on the eve of Passover. Odze initially denied that this event had taken place. Odze subsequently apologised following a "Daily Mail" article showing a Twitter post he had made which included a photograph of the book on fire.