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Informal translation from Hebrew of the 13 Iyyar, 5766 (11 May, 2006) statement:

Special Court for Matters Concerning the Nation and the State
Statement by the Secretariat of the Sanhedrin

Concerning the Supreme Court's application of the conclusions of the Tal Commission

In what has become customary, the Supreme Court intermeddled in the judgment of important matters central to the identity of the Jewish people. These matters are outside the limits of their authority.

[Although they upheld the recommendations of the Tal commission for the time being,] the determination by the Supreme Court that there is no justification for any military deferment by religious Jews is inappropriate and fallacious. The IDF regularly abrogates the religious rights of its soldiers, without allowing them recourse to law; for instance giving orders to desecrate the Sabbath for reasons of expulsion and destruction [of Jewish homes], from Gilead farms to Gush Katif, and recently even in Hebron. The IDF initiates and causes the abuse and abasement of religious soldiers and protects their commanders from judgment.

Notwithstanding the temporary practical and instructive usefulness that results from the Supreme Court's [upholding of the Tal commission] for the Torah learning public, we hope that the youth will weigh army service according to the purposes and objectives of the army: To consider if they substantially impair, or not, the establishment of a Jewish state and the fundamental rights of the individual, community and the nation -- because there are circumstances, as have already occurred, that it were preferable to learn in yeshiva - a place that nourishes the national soul.

Click here to see the Hebrew version