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Peace Process

Rabbi urges ?God-fearing? MKs to oppose retreat


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
October 24, 2004

All “God-fearing” Jewish Knesset members must vote against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan Tuesday, or they will be party to endangering the state and its citizens, said Shas Party spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef.

Yosef issued the plea during his weekly Saturday evening sermon, after rejecting efforts by Sharon to secure Shas’s 11 votes in the upcoming Knesset vote.

It will be the Knesset’s first reading of Sharon’s retreat plan. The prime minister is expected to garner majority support even without Shas.

Sharon woos Shas

Last week, Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz met for hours with Rabbi Yosef in an attempt to convince the Sephardic spiritual leader to back the Gaza withdrawal.

(Shas MKs always vote in accordance with Yosef’s rulings.)

The prime minister is expected to pass his plan by a comfortable majority when it is brought before the Knesset on Tuesday.

He had hoped, however, to demoralize the plan’s opponents with a wide margin of victory. Sharon’s initiative will now be carried on the backs of the leftist Labor and Arab parties.

‘No way!’ says Yosef

During their meeting, Yosef told Mofaz he could not support the retreat, but refrained from deciding whether or not his party’s MKs would vote against or abstain during Tuesday’s vote.

During his Saturday evening sermon, which attracted far more press coverage than usual, Yosef launched into an impassioned explanation why all “God-fearing” Jewish members of Knesset were obligated to vote down Sharon’s plan.

"If you have a conscience and you believe in the law of God, you must vote against," he said, evoking loud cheers from those gathered to hear the sermon.

A Torah violation

Yosef declared that Tuesday’s Knesset vote was a “matter of life and death,” noting that implementation of the evacuation would bring large Israeli population centers within range of “Palestinian” rockets.

"If they evacuate these settlements, the territory will be occupied by terrorists, who will have within their range Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Netivot,” Yosef said. “They will fire missiles and Kassams, and murder innocent people. This is a real danger for the people of Israel."

He said it was a violation of biblical principles to simply stand by while the lives of fellow Jews were endangered needlessly. The rabbi charged that any MK who voted for the plan or abstained would be guilty of this crime, and would one day have to stand before the Almighty and explain his or her actions.

Yosef also decried the fact that the Gaza withdrawal would weaken the Jews’ claim to all parts of their God-given land.

"Next, they will chase Jews out of Ashkelon, Hevron and Be'er Sheva; there will be no end!"

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