Rabbi Dov Lior
Photo: Ilan Marciano
'Embraced and danced with expulsion officers.'
Photo: Aya Ben Amos
Rabbi: Exile those responsible for pullout
Jewish Rabbinical Council Chairman Dov Lior says in pamphlet distributed in synagogues throughout country, ‘It is not the way of the Torah to pray for a Jew’s death, but God can remove these people from their posts, exile them along with their Arab friends, or remove them from this world entirely’
We should pray that God will banish those who planned and authorized the recent disengagement and who are capable of committing another act (pullout) that would endanger Israel, Jewish Rabbinical Council Chairman Dov Lior said in a pamphlet being distributed in synagogues all over the country.
“It is not the way of the Torah to pray for a Jew’s death,” Lior, who is also the rabbi of the West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, said, “but God can remove these people from their posts, exile them along with their Arab friends, or remove them from this world entirely.”
As to the soldiers who took part in the evacuation of settlements, he said, ‘most of those who participated in the banishment (of settlers) were incited; a distinction must be made between the police officers and soldiers and those who planned the eviction, meaning the government and its ministers, Knesset members and IDF commanders – who acted out of sheer maliciousness.”
'They came to annihilate Israel'
“In addition to relinquishing the Land of Israel to the Goyim, they threw residents from their homes. The struggle should focus on them, not on the soldiers,” Lior added.
Lior also criticized those rabbis who called on soldiers not to refuse orders during the disengagement, saying, “These rabbis, some of whom head yeshivas, deceived their students by telling them not to refuse orders in total contradiction to what the torah says.
“This erroneous attitude resulted in scenes in which there were those who embraced and danced with the expulsion officers, who came to annihilate the Land of Israel and banish Jews from their home instead of fighting for the country."
Lior also called to replace the current Yesha Council with a rabbinical leadership, saying that only rabbis posses the necessary courage for struggles such as the one waged on the eve of the disengagement.