Religious Zionist rabbi supports Kadima

Braving the criticism of the religious Zionist public, Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun announced Sunday his support for Kadima. Bin-Nun, head of the religious kibbutz movement's Yeshiva at Ein Tzurim, said putting his support behind Kadima was "the most difficult decision I have ever made." Olmert and Bin-Nun also reached an understanding, according to Ha'aretz, in which Olmert pledged that the security fence would not delineate Israel's borders. In the document, the acting prime minister promised to retain Jerusalem's integrity under Israeli jurisdiction. He added that the main settlement blocs, including Gush Ariel, Gush Etzion, and the Jerusalem periphery would be preserved. A firebrand, Bin-Nun has been outside the religious Zionist consensus since he made a public call to soul search after a religious Zionist murdered Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Attacking his religious Zionist peers, Bin-Nun said, "It is easy to climb up on an 'orange hill' and shout and complain. "But they are escapists because all the major political decisions in this country from final border status to the future of settlements in Judea and Samaria will be decided inside Kadima in the next four years." Bin-Nin said he and religious Kadima members such as Ze'ev Elkin, Professor Menahem Ben Sasson, and Otniel Shneller, and to a certain degree David Tal, would do their best to salvage what they could of the Jewish settlement enterprise. Shneller said it was "fantastic" that Bin-Nun had decided to offer his support. "It is a clear message that religious Zionism is not disengaging from the state of Israel," said Shneller.