At times the disdain for religious and right-wing Jews reaches levels that boggle the mind. While Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced his decision in May 2012, to close the case against the authors of the sefer Toras HaMelech, Einat Horowitz and her colleagues in the Reform Movement insist Rabbis Yitzchak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur must be brought to justice.

Horowitz has filed a petition to the Supreme Court in the hope of reopening the case. She feels the sefer is violates laws prohibiting incitement and it is racist in nature.

The sefer, as explained by the rabbonim addresses halacha as explained by the Rambam. The book is a sefer which analyzes and probes halacha and not a manual for attacking Arabs as some understand it to be. The rabbonim in the introduction make this quite clear.

Explaining the state’s position, Yuval Rothman stated that while the book should be condemned it does not break any laws. If one reads it one can clearly understand it is a halachic discourse, nothing more. He added that there are even some moderate views expressed in the sefer.

In a bizarre turn in events, during the Supreme Court session the state indicated it will be filing criminal charges against the Kol Yehudi website for publishing an article from Rabbi Elitzur which the attorney general feels laid the groundwork for the price tag attacks.

Even more amazing is the fact that currently, the owner and employers of the website may face criminal charges but no indictment is being handed down against the author of that controversial article, Rabbi Yosef Elitzur.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)