"The government has put the soldiers into a political argument and I am trying to bring them out of it," Rabbi Shapira told President Katzav. The president initiated the meeting last week in response to protests over the rabbi's appeal to soldiers not participate in army actions to transfer Jews out of their communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Rabbi Shapira laid the blame on the government after President Katzav said the rabbi's stand could cause an unprecedented internal struggle in the army and injects the soldiers into a political argument. In a separate interview with the Hebrew newspaper Maariv, the president called on religious leaders to direct their opposition towards activity in the political framework.
Rabbi Shapira repeated his opinion, originally articulated in October, that "it is forbidden to fulfill an order that would dismantle Jewish communities." Speaking at the time with his student Rabbi Aharon Trop, head of the Yeshivat Bnei Tzvi High School in Beit El, Rabbi Shapira stated emphatically, "G-d-fearing policemen and soldiers should make it clear to their commanders already now that just as they would not fulfill orders to desecrate the Sabbath and eat non-kosher, they similarly will not uproot Jews from their homes."
Defense officials and politicians have recommended several times that if the government carries out the plan to dismantle Jewish communities and transfer Jewish property to Arabs, then the police and border guards, rather than soldiers, should constitute the forces directly involved.
Rabbi Shapira and President Katzav agreed to hold another meeting in the near future.
Rabbi Shapira laid the blame on the government after President Katzav said the rabbi's stand could cause an unprecedented internal struggle in the army and injects the soldiers into a political argument. In a separate interview with the Hebrew newspaper Maariv, the president called on religious leaders to direct their opposition towards activity in the political framework.
Rabbi Shapira repeated his opinion, originally articulated in October, that "it is forbidden to fulfill an order that would dismantle Jewish communities." Speaking at the time with his student Rabbi Aharon Trop, head of the Yeshivat Bnei Tzvi High School in Beit El, Rabbi Shapira stated emphatically, "G-d-fearing policemen and soldiers should make it clear to their commanders already now that just as they would not fulfill orders to desecrate the Sabbath and eat non-kosher, they similarly will not uproot Jews from their homes."
Defense officials and politicians have recommended several times that if the government carries out the plan to dismantle Jewish communities and transfer Jewish property to Arabs, then the police and border guards, rather than soldiers, should constitute the forces directly involved.
Rabbi Shapira and President Katzav agreed to hold another meeting in the near future.