Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin met Monday with former chief rabbi and religious Zionist leader Avraham Shapira in Jerusalem.
"There's an argument, but each side must understand the other," Shapira told Diskin, who came to the rabbi's home in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood.
Sources close to the rabbi described the introductory meeting as "warm and friendly," adding that disagreements about the upcoming disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank were not aired.
The former chief rabbi's calls for conscientious objection among soldiers charged with carrying out the pullout have reverberated amongst the public.
"The Shin Bet head understood what the position of the rabbi is on the matter," they said. "There was more understanding than disagreement."
Shapira also blessed Diskin with success "in defending the Nation of Israel."
What was raised at the meeting was road blocking by right-wing activists. Shapira did not categorize the act of protest as violence, but he did express disgust at the recent use of road spikes and oil.
He added that there was no justification for using violence to stop the disengagement plan.
The meeting with Diskin was supposed to have occurred weeks ago, but the rabbi repeatedly pushed it off. The Shin Bet sources said that the agency is conducting meetings with a number of rabbis.
Shapira and disengagement
Rabbi Shapira caused a firestorm when he called for conscientious objection, declaring, "God-fearing soldiers and police officers have to tell their commanders now that just as they won't violate Shabbat or eat carrion, they will not uproot Jews from their homes."
At a conference held three months ago, the rabbi said that "one cannot participate in evacuating Jewish communities in the Land of Israel and hand them over to Gentiles. It's against Halacha, the Torah, and morality …"
