Rabbi Levanon. Called soldiers to refuse orders
Photo: Ilan Marciano
Rabbis issue warning to army chief
Dozens of rabbis protest Thursday chief of staff's intention to undermine authority of rabbi who called for refusal during pullout. Religious leaders gather to form united political entity
Religious Zionist rabbis are furious over IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz's intention to restrict the powers of Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, who called on soldiers to disobey orders during the disengagement.
More than 50 rabbis who gathered Thursday for a political convention protested the army commander's attempt to "intervene in the world of the Torah."
"The participants of the convention call on the defense minister and the chief of staff to not dare hurt the world of the Torah, the world of the yeshivas, and in particular the authority of Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, head of the Elon Moreh yeshiva, who has sent hundreds of soldiers to serve in the army," a statement by the attendees read.
"We protest the chief of staff's attempts to interfere with Torah issues of which he knows nothing," the statement read.
The gathering was a demonstration of unusual solidarity between all factions of the Zionist religious sector, including rabbis of religious kibbutzim, West Bank settlements, cities and other communities.
The participants' aim was to identify the widest common denominator around which all branches of religious Zionism can unite ahead of the upcoming elections.
'Aiming to guarantee state's religious character'
"The convention proved that in spite of attempts to break the spirit of religious Zionism, it is still alive and well. We will continue to integrate into the state's institutions, in order to have as much influence as possible on the Israeli public," one of the organizers of the event stated.
The participants decided that "ahead of the elections, we must unite immediately and act in accord, as one political entity, in order to guarantee the religious character of the State and of the future government."
The rabbis at the meeting harshly criticized the government's treatment of the Gush Katif and northern Samaria evacuees.
"It has been more than three months since the disengagement, but many of the evacuated settlers still have no proper residence, not to mention employment," a participant in the event claimed.
"The problems of the evacuees could have been addressed a while ago. We take it upon ourselves to rehabilitate the settlement enterprise all across Israel," he concluded.
