The Yesha Rabbis Council released a statement last night as follows:
"We call on and plead with the Prime Minister not to issue the blatantly unethical order to evacuate outposts and communities for the purpose of giving them to the enemy. We call on the security forces to consult their conscience and their Jewish emotions, and to consider the morality of every order they receive."
Although the rabbis did not instruct soldiers to refuse orders, the rabbis' very right to make such rulings has again become a topic of debate in the media. In the summer of 1995, Ariel Sharon - then a leading member of the opposition to the Rabin government - spoke with Arutz-7 about a rabbinical ruling calling on soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate army bases. Sharon said at the time:
"In my opinion, it is the right and obligation of rabbis to deal with questions of saving life and the integrity of the Land... Therefore, the first thing we have to do is to stop this massive 'storming' against the rabbis.
"As someone who served in the army for many years, I say that a soldier has to fulfill orders. If he feels that from a personal point of view, the order is against his conscience, then he must speak individually - and I emphasize, individually - with his commander and explain this to him, and to be willing to pay the price, as has happened in the past. I view with gravity the unrestrained verbal attacks on the rabbis. [It is not fair to call them] a 'small group of rabbis who were not democratically elected,' as the Prime Minister [Rabin] called them, nor are they just the 'Yesha rabbis' or 'the right-wing rabbis' - all these names used by the politicians of the left, those who cooperate with the PLO against Jews, first secretly and now openly… These are rabbis who are great in Torah, who are a great merger of Torah and real Zionism - the religious Zionism that is imbued with love of the people and land of Israel. The rabbis are expressing their tremendous trepidation regarding the irresponsible acts of this government, that in its haste, is liable to bring upon us a great catastrophe."
Asked if he thinks the rabbis' ruling might influence or deter the government, Sharon responded,
"I think that the entire subject of crossing red lines - the responsibility for it lies essentially upon the government. It must prevent situations of red lines. This government must understand that when it speaks of democracy, this is a gross distortion. Democracy must not be the dictatorship of a majority. Not everything can be done, and certainly not here, in issues that will determine our future."