Reform movements petitions High Court to file criminal charges against rabbis who penned controversial book; say it incites violence. The Reform Movement, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, Professor Asa Kasher and several other Jewish groups filed a High Court petition Monday urging the criminal prosecution of rabbis Yitzhak Shapira, Dov Lior (pictured below), Yitzhak Ginsburg and Yosef Elizor.
The four penned the controversial book “The King’s Torah,” which the petition says contains racist statements that constitute incitement and sedition.
The petition further asked the court to issue an injunction against future printings of the book.
“The ‘King’s Torah’ is overflowing with grave racist statements, which incite violence against Arabs and other minorities in Israel, thus constituting sedition,” the petition said.
The authors “advocate the killing of Arab children and babies in order to achieve the highest form of execution of the ‘vengeance mitzvah’; as well as the bombing any area where terrorists reside even at the expense of innocent lives,” the petition said.
“The King’s Torah” was first published in 2010 and has been the focus of legal controversy.
The petition criticizes the “Judiciary’s failure to prosecute the authors… This disgraces the rule of law in Israel and undermines its foundations. The court must order the State Prosecution to indict the authors,” the petitioners argued.
“In a time when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is affecting the Israeli public’s everyday life, it is unfortunate to see how various elements chose to advocate violence.
“This is doubly true when it comes to religious leaders who use their title to disguise sedition,” the petition concluded.
by Aviad Glickman (www.ynetnews.com); photo: Noam Moskowitz