Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement, was questioned by police on Monday after six of his students were arrested for possible involvement in the arson attack on a West Bank mosque on December 11, 2009.

According to an Army Radio report, it was not known whether the rabbi was being interrogated for complicity in the attack, or if he was being asked about whether he had advance knowledge of the students' intentions.

Unlike the students, the rabbi was not arrested, but rather was requested by police to appear before investigators at a time of his convenience.

Last month, the well-known rabbi made headlines when petitioners called on the High Court of Justice to indict him, together with Rabbi Yosef Elitzur - another teacher at the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva - for writing and marketing a book in which they say Jewish religious law permits the murder of Palestinian babies and that at times it is preferable to deliberately kill innocent people.

"There are reasons for killing babies even though they have not violated the seven sins, because of the danger that will arise if they are allowed to live and grow up to be as evil as their parents," the petitioners quoted from the book, "The Torah of the King."