The Rabbis’ Union for the People and Land of Israel, headed by former Israeli chief rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham Shapira, called Thursday security forces to refuse orders to evacuate settlements under the disengagement plan.
Speaking in Jerusalem at a convention of some 2,000 yeshiva students, Shapira called for help in the anti-pullout campaign.ÂÂ
‘We all have to support and maintain strong ties with the Katif and Samaria residents, and to act with daring and courage, without flinching,’ Shapira said.ÂÂ
‘This plan goes against Jewish law and the Torah, and we must not be accomplices to a crime. … We must put into practice the true way of the people of Israel, the way of the Torah.’ He added.
The Rabbi of Beit El settlement, Zalman Melamed, told the audience that he asked the head of the army Central Command, Major General Yair Naveh, to refuse orders.
‘I said to him, ‘General, sir, you must refuse the order, just as you would refuse to desecrate the Sabbath if it wasn’t necessary.”
In the meeting, Yehezkel Chernovsky, who served time in prison for campaigning in favor of disobeying military orders, was awarded a prize.
In a statement summing up the convention, the group of rabbis called on ‘all not to be dragged into violence, neither physical not verbal of any kind, neither against security forces, nor against settlers.’
