While Bayit HaYehudi Party leader Naftali Bennett clarifies his words, explaining that he absolutely opposes defying a military order even if one is told to remove Jews from their homes, some of the leading rabbonim backing the party and his candidacy would not agree with his position.

Leading rabbonim from the dati leumi tzibur backing the party including HaRav Zalman Melamed Shlita and HaRav Dov Lior Shlita are not necessarily in agreement with Bennett’s clarification, and the recent events may lead to friction inside the party. While each case may have to be addressed individually from a Halachic point of view, the rabbonim have generally signaled that they support a soldier’s right or even responsibility to refuse an order that would result in ousting Jews from their homes.

That said, in recent events over past months, Rav Melamed did agree to the eviction of Beit El residents from the Ulpana neighborhood to avoid confrontations between Jews and IDF soldiers, so it does appear each case must be judged on his own merit. Rav Lior however generally is less flexible and has stated outright that soldiers may not take part in the eviction of Jews from their homes.

However, during the 2005 implementation of the Disengagement Plan, the eviction of Jews from northern Shomron and Gaza communities, Rav Melamed did instruct soldiers to refuse orders to evict Jews from their homes.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)