Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Head Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed), pummeled religious ministers and Knesset members for their support of the rumored deal to release 1,000 terrorists from jail in exchange for abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
"It is a wonder in my eyes, how religious and Hareidi Knesset members vote for a deal that contradicts the Torah,” he told Arutz Sheva. “Are Netanyahu and the media more important than the Torah for them? Murderers must not be released and murderers must not be assisted in murdering Jews. I have no doubt that [Shas spiritual leader] Rabbi Ovadia [Yosef] knows these verses.”
The leading Zionist rabbi, who is the son of former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, told listeners that there are numerous Torah laws against the upcoming deal. “It is known that 'prisoners are not to be redeemed by more than they are worth,'” he quoted the Mishnah, “but that is a reason that pertains more to deals with an economic price.”
However, he said, there is also a serious prohibition on releasing murderers. “Even the release of [Nazi criminal Adolf] Eichmann, who already lacked the means to murder Jews, was forbidden,” Rabbi Eliyahu explained, “because putting a murderer on trial has a deterrent value, in order to signal that Jewish blood cannot be spilled freely.”
Another Jewish law forbids the sale of weapons to foreigners, even if it is known that they will be used to kill other foreigners. This is doubly true of assisting criminals, the rabbi said. :And here we are talking about an operation following which Jews will be murdered. This is several times worse,” he said.
The only way to free Gilad Shalit is by “turning off the taps” on Gaza, he said. “From a Jewish Law perspective, their electricity and water need to be shut off.”
By advancing the deal, “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is doing something that is opposed to Halacha and people must not vote for such a man,” Eliyahu warned. “If the State of Israel went in Torah ways, everything would seem simpler and quicker,” he added.