Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger rejected on Friday media reports from the last few days in which he is accused of calling rabbis "irresponsible" for their opposition to a deal to release abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Interviewed by Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Metzger said he merely expressed wonder at halachic (Jewish legal) declarations being made without all the details of the deal being known.

The rabbi said that even after he is advised of all the details, including the projected risk of specific security prisoners among the hundreds to be released, he will meet with the "greats of the generation," before making his decision as to the acceptibility of the deal under Jewish law.