The European Union ambassador to Israel, Andrew Standley, met Tuesday with rabbis from the Pikuach Nefesh organization. The rabbis told Standley, “The halacha [Jewish law] is clear and undisputed… that any Israeli retreat is an immediate threat to residents of the land. The halacha says that there is no possibility that a process of retreat and giving in to demands for territory will bring peace or stop the violence.

“The opposite, it will bring terrible bloodshed,” they said.

Rabbi Avraham Levine told Standley, “You’ve seen it very well yourselves. You’ve already tried all the options, and everything failed. Now it’s clear that the dispute is not over the 67 borders or occupation, the obvious Arab stance is opposition to Jewish settlement in any part of the land of Israel.”