I am flabbergasted that Smotritch would strengthen and support the demands of the leader of the cult closest to Judaism, Deri, in establishing a monopoly for the State Haredi Conversion... the son of Rav Kook, Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, fought against religious coercion. I surmise that both the father and the son, had they been alive today, would have slapped [Smotritch] twice in the face to reset him.

  -- Mk Alex Kushnir (Yisrael Beyteynu), after MK Smotritch (Yamina) announced that he would support Deri's proposal for allowing only the Rabbanut to perform conversions in Israel with no recognition of private batei din on this matter. MK Matan Kahane, from the same party as Smotritch,, said he would oppose Deri's bill.

I am sure Kushnir is an expert on Rav Kook and knows exactly how he would respond. Anyway, it makes sense that Smotritch would support the bill, even form the Opposition. Smotritch's party, in its various forms, were always the biggest supporters of the Chief Rabbinate and the need for such an institution in Israel. The secular never needed it as they don't listen to the Rabbanut and only connect with the Rabbanut when forced to (eg at life cycle events usually), and the Haredim always rejected, or at best ignored, the Rabbanut anyways until recent years when they realized they had the power to take it over and now continue to ignore it and only control it. It was always the Dati Leumi community that was the base for the Rabbanut.