Rabbi: Soldiers must obey Gaza excavation orders

A spiritual leader of Jewish settlers today called on soldiers to obey orders to evacuate settlers, breaking with other rabbis opposed to the summer pullout from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu also opposes the pullout but said soldiers must follow orders and opponents must not resist with violence, the first time he has taken such a position in public.

Another former chief rabbi repeated his view that religiously observant soldiers should refuse to take part in the pullout. Many Orthodox Jews oppose any withdrawal from the West Bank or Gaza, considering them part of their God-given Promised Land.

The issue of observant soldiers refusing to carry out orders, added to fervent opposition to the pullout by settlers and their backers, has led to warnings from security officials of complications, and possibly violence, during the evacuation of all 21 Gaza settlements and four from the West Bank in the summer.

In an interview in the Orthodox Jewish weekly “Family”, Eliahu said soldiers opposed to the withdrawal must not disobey orders to carry it out.

“It’s forbidden to disobey orders,” Eliahu said. “Many soldiers and security forces came to ask me what they should do and I answered that observant Jews will … do it, in tears and with a broken heart.”

Asked in an interview with Channel Two TV if he was telling soldiers to carry out orders to evacuate settlers, Eliahu responded: “Yes, they should, in tears.”

However, former Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira, also seen as a spiritual inspiration for the settlers, continues to call on observant soldiers not to carry out orders to evacuate settlers, his son Yaakov Shapira said.

“A soldier cannot carry out an order that goes against religion,” he said.

Later, an aide to Eliahu, Rabbi Shmuel Zaafrani, suggested that soldiers could tell their commanders that “they are not capable” of evacuating settlements.

In the magazine interview, Eliahu repeated his opposition to the evacuation. He warned that “not even the prime minister” has the right to give up biblical lands.

“I have no doubt that the government is mistaken,” Eliahu said, but addressing the settlers slated to be evacuated, he added: “Don’t raise your hand against anyone, don’t fight the soldiers … don’t help those who come to evacuate you and also don’t oppose them forcefully.”

“No matter what differences of opinion … We must love every Jew … even if he is wrong,” Eliahu said.

The rabbi also said that opponents should not block roads, a tactic used in a national campaign against the evacuation.

Israel’s Supreme Court today ruled a Gaza withdrawal plan was legal, removing the last obstacle to this summer’s pull-out.

The 11-judge panel rejected 12 petitions by opponents to the withdrawal from all Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, ruling the pull-out does not violate the settlers’ human rights.

Ten of the judges ruled the law was legal. The minority opinion of one judge said the law was illegal and should be cancelled.

Yoram Sheftel, an attorney for the settlers, said his expectations were low because the Supreme Court had a tendency of ruling against Jewish settlers.

“We didn’t expect anything from this court since the petitioners are Jews and patriots,” Sheftel said.

“This was fully expected. There’s no surprise. I’m not disappointed because we didn’t have any expectations.”

Other settler leaders dismissed the ruling as irrelevant, and vowed to resist the evacuation.