The arrests of Rabbis Lior and Yaakov Yosef over their support for the book Torat Hamelech, which is said to advocate killing non-Jewish civilians in a time of war, were natural developments. But these developments were created by people who were not so smart, to put it mildly. Before any discussion over the reasons for the arrests, it is clear that Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan is supposed to prevent incitement and the distribution of material that he thinks is likely to incite. Assuming that he does his job objectively, in the matter of Torat Hamelech he is indirectly responsible for the widespread publicity of the book. The person who is responsible for the prevention of incitement must think about how to prevent advertising such as Torat Hamelech received. It is possible that the rabbis who support the book took advantage of the opportunity of their arrests to make the book known to the public. But despite this criticism of the prosecution, ignoring a summons to show up for police questioning is a crime. Furthermore, the violent outbursts by the rabbis' followers directed at legal institutions are unacceptable. On the other hand, the criticism against the discriminatory approach of Shai Nitzan's investigations is legitimate. I will even reveal that a complaint I sent him and to then Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on May 22, 2005, concerning a public call to break settlers bones, remove them using trucks and shut their mouths, was met with silence, which is against State Service Code stipulations. But we must not see this as a justification for breaking the law. Instead, we should uphold the law and complain about illegitimate politicization. In conclusion, we need to pay closer attention to the attempts to incite an entire section of society. Several radio and television presenters and commentators claimed that the infractions committed by the two rabbis, as well as the demonstrations by their followers, were the work of the right wing. And that is just the point -- they werent. The rabbis ignoring of a summons for interrogations, and the claims by the rabbis' followers that Jewish law is above civil law, are not considered legitimate by many who see themselves as Right-leaning. These include Rabbi Yaakov Yosef's own father, Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who did not support his son's actions. I would even bet that those who support the rabbis constitute a small minority within the Right. Instead of standing up against that minority, some in the media are using the platforms given to them by the trusting public to de-legitimize a political opinion that is in opposition to theirs. Aside from the fact that this is an abuse of their positions, it is appropriate for Nitzan to check whether an attempt is being made to incite against an entire section of the public.
If not for the publicity, very few rabbis would have even known about the book, and even fewer would have read it. Today, because of the high level of publicity the book received, not only rabbis, but many laymen are considering reading it as well, including senior Left-leaning figures in the media. In recent days they have been airing quotes full of incitement, quotes that Shai Nitzan must strive to prevent. This is a failure. The State Prosecutors team achieved the opposite of what it was supposed to achieve -- the prevention of incitement -- and should draw the necessary conclusions.
