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The Religious Zionist movement has issued a blanket condemnation of
the arrest of Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira over the book he authored. Dozens of
rabbis, Knesset members, and National Religious public figures have
signed a petition against the rabbi's arrest, claiming that he expressed
"a halachic opinion."

The petition also came out against the manner in which he was arrested – in the middle of the night by dozens of policemen.

Beit El Rabbi Shlomo Aviner told Ynet on Monday that the book "Torat
Hamelech" is a "halachic-academic work, a pedagogical work," and,
therefore, there is no justification to send its author to prison.

According to Aviner, the "'religious laws governing the killing of a
non-Jew' outlined in the book are a legitimate stance and must be
addressed via clarification of halachic sources and nothing else."

'Treated like worst of criminals'

Despite this, Rabbi Aviner said that he is against the book's
publication. "I do not think it is correct to write various halachas on
killing a non-Jew, just a Swede should not write about killing a
Norwegian," he said. "It is clear that it is forbidden to kill non-Jews
for naught, and it is clear that in a time of war, it is permissible to
defend yourself against anyone shooting at you, even if he is a 'good'
person."

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