|
September 11, 2005
Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America Welcomes Israeli Cabinet
Decision to Not Have Israeli Army
Destroy Synagogues In Gaza; Test Now for
Palestinian Authority's "Capacity For Governance"
Today, the
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America - the nation's
largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization - welcomed the
decision of the Israeli Cabinet to not order the Israeli Defense
Forces to destroy the synagogues which remain in the evacuated
communities of Gaza.
This turn of events came after the
Union took the unprecedented
step to directly file a submission with the Supreme Court of
Israel in a pending case (see -
http://www.ou.org/pdf/5765/BaGatz%20Ltr%20re%20Gaza%20Shuls.pdf
- petitioning the Court not to permit the Israeli
government to order the IDF to destroy the synagogues in
evacuated Gaza communities), and after the Union expressed its
"deep disappointment" when the Court
ruled last week that it would not instruct the Israeli
government otherwise,
Nathan Diament, the Union's director of public policy, issued
the following statement:
The Orthodox Union welcomes the decision of the cabinet -
whatever its motivation - to leave the synagogues intact and to
seek an arrangement by which they will not be subsequently
destroyed. This decision is consistent with Jewish law and
teaching and with the ruling of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
whose views on such matters should be followed by the State in
the first instance. In addition to the foregoing, we also
welcome this ruling for, as we stated in our submission to the
Court, Israel's destruction of these synagogues would have been
"tantamount to granting permission to any government around the
world to destroy synagogues which lack a population if
sufficient size to sustain them."
Following this decision, the test now falls to the Palestinian
Authority to demonstrate their capacity for governance by
ensuring that these synagogues are protected from desecration,
as do so many other governing authorities around the globe. We
call upon the international community to work toward securing
proper treatment for these synagogues as well.
###
|
