Alarmed Rabbis: Prime Minister Dividing Jerusalem
Jewish leaders urging Israeli leader’s partners to leave government
A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis this week urged a religious partner of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government to immediately bolt the Israeli leader’s coalition amid rampant media reports Jerusalem is up for negotiations.
The rabbis warned that if the Orthodox Shas party remains in Olmert’s government, they will urge Jews against supporting Shas. If the party bolts, Olmert’s coalition government could fall apart, precipitating new elections.
“We are seriously considering issuing a statement signed by the hundreds of rabbis of the organization declaring it is absolutely forbidden for any observant Jew to vote for a party that lent its support to a government that negotiated the division of Jerusalem, a move that will place the entire population in Israel in mortal danger,” Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin, director general of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, told WND.
The Congress is a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis.
Olmert repeatedly has insisted Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are not dealing with the status of Jerusalem, while Palestinian leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abba, and many Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, stated in recent weeks negotiations are covering all core issues, including Jerusalem.
The Israeli Shas party has stated it would bolt the prime minister’s coalition if it becomes clear the Israeli government is negotiating the ceding of any part of Jerusalem. Shas’ departure could collapse Olmert’s government.
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