Yitzhar rabbi detained by police
LAST UPDATED: 08/19/2010 10:22
Investigators suspect Elitzur-Hershkowitz of racial incitement.
yitzhar yeshiva Photo: Od Yosef Chai
Police arrested
rabbi Yosef Elitzur-Hershkowitz from Yitzhar overnight Wednesday on
suspicion of incitement to racial violence, possession of a racist text,
and and possession of material that incites to violence.
The arrest comes as part of the investigation into the book Torat Hamelech
(The King's Torah), co-written by Elitzur-Hershkowitz and Rabbi
Yitzhak Shapira of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The book
discusses the rules of war, and states that in certain situations,
non-Jews can be killed.
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Elitzur-Hershokwitz will be arraigned at a Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
The
book has attracted a firestorm of controversy since being published in
2009, and police have questioned Shapira over the texts last month,
while raiding the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar in order to
confiscate copies of the text.
Rabbi Dov Lior, of Kiryat Arba, and Yaakov Yosef, son of Shas spirtual
leader Ovadia Yosef, provided endorsements of the book, and have refused
requests by the police's National Serious and International Crimes
(NSCIC) Unit to arrive for questioning at the unit's Lod Headquarters
this month.
Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan commented Thursday on the case, criticizing the
rabbis refusal to talk to police investigators.
"The fact that a
person is a
rabbi in Israel does not afford him legal immunity, he is not above the
law," stated Nitzan on Army Radio. "Freedom of religion and free inquiry
do not permit one to do what they please. If someone incites racial
hatred, an investigation will be opened against them. There are things that
are always considered red lines."
Hundreds of primarily
national-religious rabbis took part in a convention “in honor of the
Torah and its independence” on Wednesday, following Lior and Yoseph's
summoning by police. Without endorsing the content of the book, the
participants of the gathering maintained that police should not get
involved in matters pertaining to halachic discourse. Senior figures
such as Ramat Gan's Rabbi Ya'acov Ariel and Rabbi Chaim Druckman were
also present at the event.
Jonah Mandel contributed to this report.