A fascinating politico-legal struggle has been taking place in Israel over the fate of synagogues in the Gaza Strip. It is detailed in a report by the Israel Hasbara Committee. Israeli authorities had planned that as part of the disengagement, Gaza synagogues, along with many other buildings, would be destroyed. A petition was filed last week with the Israeli High Court of Justice on behalf of an Elei Sinai rabbi and a professional photographer, asking that the Court order the synagogues to remain. On August 23, in a 2-1 decision, the Court largely rejected the petition. It ordered that two synagogues be moved across the border into Israel, and an examination of whether three others could be dismantled and moved. For the other Gaza synagogues, the court ruled that they should be photographed and documented, but then they should be desanctified according to Jewish law and destroyed. Artifacts, doors and external elements though would be removed an reused in synagogues in Israel. A dissent, however, argued that the synagogues should not destroyed even if they are abandoned. He urged the state to appeal to the Palestinian Authority and international bodies to examine the possibility of preserving the synagogues in their current locations in the Gaza Strip.
According to a report in yesterday's Haaretz, after the High Court's opinion was handed down, the Chief Rabbinical Council, headed by Israeli Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, issued a ruling forbidding the demolition of any of the synagogues. They argued that demolishing the synagogues in evacuated settlements will set a precedent that jeopardizes synagogues all around the world.
