Israel’s justice minister said rabbis who call on religious soldiers to refuse to evacuate settlers could face legal action. “We are not indifferent to the pain and anguish of those who oppose disengagement,” Yosef “Tommy” Lapid told Army Radio on Thursday, referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to remove all settlements from the Gaza Strip and four from the West Bank next year. “But I would like to issue a warning to far-right rabbis: Gentlemen, there are limits to the justice system’s patience with those who spread sedition among the religiously observant. History is replete with horrors committed in the name of faith.” Justice Ministry sources said there had been no new directives on enforcing sedition laws more strictly.
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