By Ryan Jones
Jan 17, 2006
A group of Israeli rabbis have cautioned Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over his government's sudden rush to curtail Jewish life in Hebron, reminding the stand-in leader of the consequences paid by former premiers who dared to ?disengage? from the Land of Israel.
?All those who harm the Land of Israel declare war on God and his commands, and face the consequences,? Ynet quoted from a letter written by Rabbi Gedalia Axelrod, a former Haifa rabbinical judge, and Rabbis Shalom Wolpe and Yekutiel Rapp of SOS Israel.
The rabbis brought as examples the fates of Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon, pointing out that ?prime ministers who harmed the Land of Israel never succeeded in completing their term in office.?
Though the leftist Ynet attempted to portray the authors of the letter as ?extremists,? the rabbis insisted it was ?out of sheer concern that we urge you Mr. Olmert not to walk down the path of your predecessors...?
?Don?t make the hasty move of abandoning the Land of Israel, and don't bring catastrophe upon the people of Israel and yourself,? they pleaded.
Olmert recently vowed to press forward with what he and Shimon Peres now refer to as ?Sharon's legacy,? a plan which reports indicate includes the abandonment of most of Israel's biblical patrimony in Judea, Samaria and possibly even eastern Jerusalem.