Supreme Court Justice Ilta Zisskind convicted Rabbi Elitzur Segal, a rav affiliated with the dati leumi community, for an article he wrote in which he insults former IDF Chief Rabbi Yisrael Weiss. Rav Segal was found guilty of insulting a public official.
The article written by Rabbi Segal appeared shortly before the government implemented the 2005 Disengagement Plan, the eviction of Jews from Gaza and N. Shomron. Rav Weiss at that time served as the IDF chief rabbi. Rabbi Segal took umbrage with Weiss support of the operation, accusing him of crossing all acceptable lines as the military’s number one rav.
The court ruled that while the rav’s name was not mentioned, only the “chief military rabbi”, the insulting article compromised the integrity of the military post.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Herzel is chuckling in his grave….
even he didnt envision that this could happen in a “Jewish” state.
Not that I believe Israel should be a democracy, but they like to think of themselves as such. Cases like this show what a joke that is.
For all its faults, it is good that in the United States it is not a crime to “insult a public official”. Imagine what Barack Obama could do with such a law.
Am I wrong, is it only the right-wing nationlist Rabbis that get arrested? While everyone else can WRITE or SAY what they think, even if incitement against others?
A very un-biased attitude, won’t you agree?