
 
 
\Rabbi Shmuel  Eliyahu, the Head Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed), pummeled religious ministers and  Knesset members for their support of the rumored deal to release 1,000  terrorists from jail in exchange for abducted IDF soldier Gilad  Shalit.
"It is a wonder in my eyes, how religious and Hareidi Knesset  members vote for a deal that contradicts the Torah,” he told Arutz Sheva. “Are  Netanyahu and the media more important than the Torah for them? Murderers must  not be released and murderers must not be assisted in murdering Jews. I have no  doubt that [Shas spiritual leade Rabbi Ovadia [Yose knows these verses.”  
The leading Zionist rabbi, who is the son of former Chief Sephardic  Rabbi Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, told listeners that there are numerous Torah laws  against the upcoming deal. “It is known that 'prisoners are not to be redeemed  by more than they are worth,'” he quoted the Mishnah, “but that is a reason that  pertains more to deals with an economic price.”
However, he said, there  is also a serious prohibition on releasing murderers. “Even the release of [Nazi  criminal Adol Eichmann, who already lacked the means to murder Jews, was  forbidden,” Rabbi Eliyahu explained, “because putting a murderer on trial has a  deterrent value, in order to signal that Jewish blood cannot be spilled  freely.”
Another Jewish law forbids the sale of weapons to foreigners,  even if it is known that they will be used to kill other foreigners. This is  doubly true of assisting criminals, the rabbi said. :And here we are talking  about an operation following which Jews will be murdered. This is several times  worse,” he said.
The only way to free Gilad Shalit is by “turning off the  taps” on Gaza, he said. “From a Jewish Law perspective, their electricity and  water need to be shut off.”
By advancing the deal, “Prime Minister  Binyamin Netanyahu is doing something that is opposed to Halacha and people must  not vote for such a man,” Eliyahu warned. “If the State of Israel went in Torah  ways, everything would seem simpler and quicker,” he added.