{"id":7064,"date":"2010-11-18T10:05:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-18T09:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaza.haimbresheeth.com\/?p=7064"},"modified":"2010-12-27T13:18:05","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T12:18:05","slug":"november-18-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/2010\/11\/18\/november-18-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"November 18, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Peace Dinner, by Carlos Latuff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDITOR<\/strong>: Hello?! Anybody home at the White House?!<\/span><\/p>\n

So the election has been and gone, Obama got his drubbing at the polls, and he is even less committed than he was before (if that is at all possible…) to just peace in the Middle East. He cannot afford to take on the Israeli government and the powerful Jewish Lobby (which as we all know, and are continuously told by Zionists, does not exist…) at a time of growing public disenchantment with his failed presidency. Attacked by right and left alike, he will now go into his shell, and hope nothing bad will happen… In the meantime, on the farm, things are developing apace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish rabbis in Israel and abroad have been arguing for genocide of Palestinians and others for some time, aided by the Israeli media, and disregarded by the Israeli judicial system, which seems to be amazingly liberal towards such views being expressed in the public domain, in the land which saw six million Jews being murdered in Europe during the Holocaust. So, maybe the lessons of the Holocaust are very clear in Israel? Tony Greenstein has done a marvelous job of collecting and publishing a selection of such voices on his blog. On his site you can also view more videos and images of the reverend racists:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbis supporting Genocide<\/a>: azvsas.blogspot
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n

According to his profile on the United Synagogue, Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet is the Rabbi for Mill Hill Synagogue and Principal of the Rosh Pinah Jewish Primary School in Edgware.<\/p>\n

He is a columnist for the Jewish News and Diary Rabbi for The Guardian. He lectures extensively throughout the country as well as abroad, and is married with four children. He is also a member of Lubavitch, a racist and extremist Jewish sect which is growing as British Jewry becomes both smaller and more Orthodox.<\/p>\n

But Shochet likes to portray a friendly, even liberal persona, especially to gullible Gentiles (non-Jews). He is what you call media friendly and that was where I met him. It was the last edition of Big Questions hosted by Nicki Campbell, though I understand a new edition begins again in January 2011. The programme I was booked for was plagued by technical problems and in the end was not broadcast but it was recorded in Leicester in the wake of the murder of 9 human rights activists on the Mavi Marmara. The Zionists, led by Shochet, who was a panellist (Big Questions never has an anti-Zionist on the panel) tried to bait one of the survivors of the MM, Alex, for being \u2018anti-semitic\u2019. The usual nonsense of course.<\/p>\n

In the course of the programme, which was not broadcast, I pointed out that 20 Israeli Jews had died in 7 years of \u2018rocket attacks\u2019 from Gaza, compared to some 7,000+ Palestinians. A ratio that even the Nazis didn\u2019t manage in Yugoslavia where it was usually 100 Jews who were killed for every Nazi who died.<\/p>\n

Shochet and Jonathan Hoffman of the Zionist Federation shrieked. It is the principle they cried. Presumably the principle being that Jewish blood is invaluable compared to its non-Jewish equivalent.<\/p>\n

After the programme I was talking to someone and Rabbi Schochet walked by. I jocularly pointed out that Shochet was a member of Lubavitch, the racist Jewish sect which believes that Jewish life is more precious than non-Jewish life. I asked him whether it was right that the Jewish Oral Law, the Halacha, didn\u2019t treat the killing of Jews and non-Jews as the same. \u2018I don\u2019t know what you are talking about\u2019 said the normally unflappable Schochet. Lying comes naturally to these people. \u2018This is a Tower of Babel\u2019 he said as he ran off – presumably he wanted me to speak in a foreign language that non-Jews couldn’t understand, because historically the Talmud does indeed rank non-Jews as inferior. That is why a book of Dispensations was drawn up in the diaspora which contained all the foulest excrescences because it was feared that if non-Jews learnt what Jews really thought about them they may pose a danger to Jews.<\/p>\n

For those who are interested, the details of all this can be found in ‘Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel’ by the late Professor Israel Shahak of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a childhood survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Belsen, and Norton Mezvinsky. [Pluto Press, 1999]<\/p>\n

Over time of course these sayings fell into disuse. Jews weren\u2019t willing to follow the chauvinism of their rabbis. There was nothing unique of course in this. The New Testament and the Quoran also have passages that are chauvinist and today, in the context of state policy, would undoubtedly be deemed racist. But we don’t have Christian or Islamic states today that privilege Christians or Muslims over others. Iran oppresses its own Muslims in the name of Islam. Jews are relatively free in that country.<\/p>\n

But we have a Jewish state, whose whole existence is predicated on the expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinians. Jewish rabbis provide the ideological legitimation which is why, when Lubavitch Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, author of the King\u2019s Torah, a book devoted to justifying the murder even of Arab babies, was arrested there was an outcry among the Orthodox.<\/p>\n

Shochet of course is a Lubavitch Rabbi and he is not the only one. In Britain he preaches tolerance and even took exception recently to the racism of Israel’s immigration minister who had been warmly applauded by the BNP. He is all sweetness and light but he is also a member of one of the nastiest and most virulently racist Jewish sects. In other words, he is a hypocrite.<\/p>\n

Tony Greenstein<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How To Kill Goyim And Influence People: Leading Israeli Rabbis Defend Manual for For Killing Non-Jews<\/a><\/h3>\n

On 08.31.10, By Max Blumenthall<\/p>\n

When I went into the Jewish religious book emporium, Pomeranz, in central Jerusalem to inquire about the availability of a book called Torat Ha\u2019Melech, or the King\u2019s Torah, a commotion immediately ensued. \u201cAre you sure you want it?\u201d the owner, M. Pomeranz, asked me half-jokingly. \u201cThe Shabak [Israel’s internal security service] is going to want a word with you if you do.\u201d As customers stopped browsing and began to stare in my direction, Pomeranz pointed to a security camera affixed to a wall. \u201cSee that?\u201d he told me. \u201cIt goes straight to the Shabak!\u201d<\/p>\n

As soon as it was published late last year Torat Ha\u2019Melech sparked a national uproar. The controversy began when an Israeli tabloid panned the book\u2019s contents as \u201c230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guidebook for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew.\u201d According to the book\u2019s author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, \u201cNon-Jews are \u201cuncompassionate by nature\u201d and should be killed in order to \u201ccurb their evil inclinations.\u201d \u201cIf we kill a gentile who has has violated one of the seven commandments\u2026 there is nothing wrong with the murder,\u201d Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: \u201cThere is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.\u201d
\n\u201cNon-Jews are \u201cuncompassionate by nature\u201d and should be killed in order to \u201ccurb their evil inclinations.\u201d \u201cIf we kill a gentile who has has violated one of the seven commandments\u2026 there is nothing wrong with the murder,\u201d
\n\u201cThere is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.\u201d Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, Torat Ha\u2019Melech (The King’s Torah)
\nIn January, Shapira was briefly detained by the Israeli police, while two leading rabbis who endorsed the book, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, were summoned to interrogations by the Shabak. However, the rabbis refused to appear at the interrogations, essentially thumbing their noses at the state and its laws. And the government did nothing. The episode raised grave questions about the willingness of the Israeli government to confront the ferociously racist swathe of the country\u2019s rabbinate. \u201cSomething like this has never happened before, even though it seems as if everything possible has already happened,\u201d Israeli commentator Yossi Sarid remarked with astonishment. \u201cTwo rabbis [were] summoned to a police investigation, and announc[ed] that they will not go. Even settlers are kind enough to turn up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the rabbis\u2019 public rebuke of the state\u2019s legal system, the Israeli Attorney General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept silent. Indeed, since the publication of Torat Ha\u2019Melech, Netanyahu has strenuously avoided criticizing its contents or the author\u2019s leading supporters. Like so many prime ministers before him, he has been cowed into submission by Israel\u2019s religious nationalist community. But Netanyahu appears to be particularly impotent. His weakness stems from the fact that the religious nationalist right figures prominently in his governing coalition and comprises a substantial portion of his political base. For Netanyahu, a confrontation with the rabid rabbis could amount to political suicide, or could force him into an alliance with centrist forces who do not share his commitment to the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

On August 18, a pantheon of Israel\u2019s top fundamentalist rabbis flaunted their political power during an ad hoc congress they convened at Jerusalem\u2019s Ramada Renaissance hotel. Before an audience of 250 supporters including the far-right Israeli Knesset member Michael Ben-Ari, the rabbis declared in the name of the Holy Torah that would not submit to any attempt by the government to regulate their political activities \u2014 even and especially if those activities included inciting terrorist attacks against non-Jews. As one wizened rabbi after another rose up to inveigh against the government\u2019s investigation of Torat Ha\u2019Melech until his voice grew hoarse, the gathering degenerated into calls for murdering not just non-Jews, but secular Jews as well.
\n\u201cThe obligation to sacrifice your life is above all others when fighting those who wish to destroy the authority of the Torah,\u201d bellowed Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, head of the yeshiva in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. \u201cIt is not only true against non-Jews who are trying to destroy it but against Jewish people from any side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government-funded terror academy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The disturbing philosophy expressed in Torat Ha\u2019Melech emerged from the fevered atmosphere of a settlement called Yitzhar located in the northern West Bank near the Palestinian city of Nablus. Shapira leads the settlement\u2019s Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, holding sway over a small army of fanatics who are eager to lash out at the Palestinians tending to their crops and livestock in the valleys below them. One of Shapira\u2019s followers, an American immigrant named Jack Teitel, has confessed to murdering two innocent Palestinians and attempting to the kill the liberal Israeli historian Ze\u2019ev Sternhell with a mail bomb. Teitel is suspected of many more murders, including an attack on a Tel Aviv gay community center.<\/p>\n

Despite its apparent role as a terror training institute, Od Yosef Chai has raked in nearly fifty thousand dollars from the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs since 2007, while the Ministry of Education has pumped over 250 thousand dollars into the yeshiva\u2019s coffers between 2006 and 2007. The yeshiva has also benefited handsomely from donations from a tax-exempt American non-profit called the Central Fund of Israel. Located inside the Marcus Brothers Textiles store in midtown Manhattan, the Central Fund transferred at least thirty thousand to Od Yosef Chai between 2007 and 2008.<\/p>\n

Though he does not name \u201cthe enemy\u201d in the pages of his book, Shapira\u2019s longstanding connection to terrorist attacks against Palestinian civilians exposes the true identity of his targets. In 2006, Shapira was briefly held by Israeli police for urging his supporters to murder all Palestinians over the age of 13. Two years later, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, he signed a rabbinical letter in support of Israeli Jews who had brutally assaulted two Arab youths on the country\u2019s Holocaust Remembrance Day. That same year, Shapira was arrested under suspicion that he helped orchestrate a rocket attack against a Palestinian village near Nablus. Though he was released, Shapira\u2019s name arose in connection with another act of terror, when in January, the Israeli police raided his settlement seeking the vandals who set fire to a nearby mosque. After arresting ten settlers, the Shabak held five of Shapira\u2019s confederates under suspicion of arson.<\/p>\n

Friends in high places<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite his longstanding involvement in terrorism, or perhaps because of it, Shapira counts Israel\u2019s leading fundamentalist rabbis among his supporters. His most well-known backer is Dov Lior the leader of the Shavei-Hevron yeshiva at Kiryat Arba, a radical Jewish settlement near the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron and a hotbed of Jewish terrorism. Lior has vigorously endorsed Torat Ha\u2019Melech, calling it \u201cvery relevant, especially in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lior\u2019s enthusiasm for Shapira\u2019s tract stems from his own eliminationist attitude toward non-Jews. For example, while Lior served as the IDF\u2019s top rabbi, he instructed soldiers: \u201cThere is no such thing as civilians in wartime\u2026 A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew\u2019s fingernail!\u201d Indeed, there are only a few non-Jews whose lives Lior would demand to be spared. They are captured Palestinian militants who, as he once suggested, could be used as subjects for live human medical experiments.
\n\u201cThere is no such thing as civilians in wartime\u2026 A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew\u2019s fingernail!\u201d Rabbi Dov Lior of the Yesha Council & Kiryat Arba
\nOtherwise, Lior appears content to watch Palestinians perish as they did at the muzzle of Dr. Baruch Goldstein\u2019s machine gun in 1994. Goldstein, who massacred 29 Palestinians and wounded 150 in a shooting spree while they prayed in Hebron\u2019s Cave of the Patriarchs mosque, was a compatriot and neighbor of Lior in the settlement of Kiryat Arba. At Goldstein\u2019s funeral, Lior celebrated the massacre as an act carried out \u201cto sanctify the holy name of God.\u201d He then extolled Goldstein as \u201ca righteous man.\u201d Thanks to Lior\u2019s efforts, a shrine to Goldstein was constructed in center of Kiryat Arba so that locals could celebrate the killer\u2019s deeds and pass his legacy down to future generations.<\/p>\n

Though Lior\u2019s inflammatory statements resulted in his being barred from running for election to the Supreme Rabbinical Council, according to journalist Daniel Estrin, the rabbi remains \u201ca respected figure among many mainstream Zionists.\u201d By extension, he maintains considerable influence among religious elements in the IDF. In 2008, when the IDF\u2019s chief rabbi, Brigadier General Avichai Ronski, brought a group of military intelligence officers to Hebron for a special tour, he concluded the day with a private meeting with Lior, who was allowed to revel the officers with his views on modern warfare \u2014 \u201cno such thing as civilians in wartime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Lior, Torat Ha\u2019Melech has earned support from another nationally prominent fundamentalist rabbi: Yaakov Yosef. Yosef is the leader of the Hazon Yaakov Yeshiva in Jerusalem and a former member of Knesset. Perhaps more significantly, he is the son of Ovadiah Yosef, the former chief rabbi of Israel and spiritual leader of the Shas Party that forms a key segment of Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition.<\/p>\n

Yaakov Yosef has brought his influence to bear in defense of Torat Ha\u2019Melech, insisting at the August 18 convention in Jerusalem that the book was no different than the Hagadah that all Jews read from on the holiday of Passover. The Hagadah contains passages about killing non-Jews and so does the Bible, Yosef reminded his audience. \u201cDoes anyone want to change the Bible?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Bibi buckles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only days before direct negotiations in Washington between Israel and the Palestinian Authority planned for early September, Yaakov Yosef\u2019s 89-year-old father, Ovadiah delivered his weekly sermon. With characteristic vitriol, he declared: \u201cAll these evil people should perish from this world\u2026 God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks have sparked an international furor and earned a stern rebuke from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. \u201cWhile the PLO is ready to resume negotiations in seriousness and good faith,\u201d Erekat remarked, \u201ca member of the Israeli government is calling for our destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestinian Israeli member of Knesset Jamal Zehalka subsequently demanded that the Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein put Yosef on trial for incitement. \u201cIf, heaven forbid, a Muslim spiritual leader were to make anti-Jewish comments of this sort,\u201d Zehalka said, \u201che would be arrested immediately.\u201d
\n\u201cIf, heaven forbid, a Muslim spiritual leader were to make anti-Jewish comments of this sort,\u201d Zehalka said, \u201che would be arrested immediately.\u201d Jamal Zehalka, Knesset Member for Balad.
\nHere was a perfect opportunity for Netanyahu to demonstrate sincerity about negotiations by shedding an extremist ally in the name of securing peace. All he had to do was forcefully reject Yosef\u2019s genocidal comments \u2014 a feat made all the easier by the White House\u2019s condemnation of the rabbi. But the Israeli Prime Minister ducked for political cover instead, issuing a canned statement through his office. \u201cRabbi Ovadiah Yosef\u2019s remarks do not reflect Netanyahu\u2019s views,\u201d the statement read, \u201cnor do they reflect the position of the Israeli government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus on the eve of peace negotiations, Bibi chose political expediency over condemning the murderous oath of a coalition partner.
\nPolice Release Lubavitch Rabbi Arrested For Incitement To Kill Arab Children<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva, released from police custody hours after being arrested for encouraging the killing of non-Jews.<\/p>\n

By Chaim Levinson \u2022 Ha’aretz<\/p>\n

Police released the head rabbi of a prominent yeshiva yesterday hours after arresting him for encouraging to kill non-Jews<\/a>: Haaretz<\/h3>\n

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva and author of “The King’s Torah,” was arrested early yesterday morning at his home in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. His book describes how it is possible to kill non-Jews according to halakha (Jewish religious law ).<\/p>\n

Detectives first carried out a search at the yeshiva, where they confiscated 30 copies of the book. The investigation and arrest were carried out on the orders of Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan.<\/p>\n

The preface of the book, which was published in November, states that it is forbidden to kill non-Jews – but the book then apparently describes the context in which it is permitted to do so.<\/p>\n

According to Shapira, it is permissible to kill a non-Jew who threatens Israel even if the person is classified as a Righteous Gentile. His book says that any gentile who supports war against Israel can also be killed.<\/p>\n

Killing the children of a leader in order to pressure him, the rabbi continues, is also permissible. In general, according to the book, it is okay to kill children if they “stand in the way – children are often doing this.” “They stand in the way of rescue in their presence and they are doing this without wanting to,” he writes. “Nonetheless, killing them is allowed because their presence supports murder. There is justification in harming infants if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us. Under such circumstances the blow can be directed at them and not only by targeting adults.”<\/p>\n

The daily Maariv’s report on the book was immediately followed by calls for Shapira’s arrest and a petition was filed with the High Court of Justice for a ban on the book’s distribution. The petition was rejected as premature.<\/p>\n

The rabbi’s arrest has stirred angry responses on both the left and right. “The police did well to initiate an investigation,” attorney Lila Margalit of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said. “Incitement for racist violence seriously undermines human rights and it should not be ignored. However, it is not entirely clear whether the arrest was justified in this case.”<\/p>\n

She added that the tendency in Israel is to “overuse” arrests, and in cases where there is no justification for it.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Yitzhar said: “Once more we are seeing rabbis being gagged and serious damage inflicted to their honor, along with the razing of homes in the settlements.”<\/p>\n

See also and Religious Zionist Rabbis Plan Mass Gathering In Support Of Rightist Rabbis Who Refused To Answer Police Summons<\/p>\n

Mass support rally planned for defiant rabbis<\/a>: Ynet<\/h3>\n

Following outrage in religious public over police summoning of rabbis who endorsed controversial book permitting killing of gentiles, Religious Zionism leaders organize mass support conference ‘in honor of Torah, entrenchment of its independence’<\/p>\n

Akiva Novick \u2022 Ynet<\/p>\n

The summoning of Rabbis Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef for police questioning stirred outrage among the religious and haredi public, and now the Religious Zionist Movement plans to hold a large gathering in support of the two, with the attendance of hundreds of rabbis.<\/p>\n

Last week the two rabbis were summoned for questioning \u2013 but refused to appear \u2013 after endorsing Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira’s controversial book, “Torat Hamelech”, in which he presented a halachic perspective on the killing of gentiles, including women and children.<\/p>\n

The organizing rabbis published a notice in the religious papers’ weekend edition titled “Conference for the Torah’s Independence,” in which they invite the city rabbis, yeshivas heads, and rabbis of all communities and neighborhoods to attend the special gathering at the Ramada Renaissance hotel in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The notice was signed by “the eldest rabbis” of the Religious Zionist Movement across the spectrum, including Rabbis Yaacov Ariel, Chaim Drukman and Shmuel Eliyahu.<\/p>\n

In an unusual step, two of the senior haredi-Sephardic yeshiva heads also joined the call \u2013 Head of Porat Yosef Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Mualem, which is considered the flagship of haredi-Sephardic yeshivas (Rabbi Ovadia Yosef among its former students), and Head of Kisse Rahamim Yeshiva Rabbi Meir Mazuz, who is regarded as the rabbi of all exiled Tunisian Jews across the world.
\n“In light of the summoning for police investigation of the brilliant rabbis, of highest rabbinical religious authority in our times, Rabbis Lior Shalita and Yaakov Yosef Shalita, we thought it right to invite all of Israel’s rabbis to a conference of rabbis and scholars in honor of the Torah and the entrenchment of its independence,” read the notice.<\/p>\n

“Without addressing the content of the book, we cannot agree in any way to the denial of scholar independence on matters pertaining to the Torah,” wrote the rabbis.<\/p>\n

‘Grave act’<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday Rabbis Lior and Yosef explained their support for the book: “The Torah is not open to investigation,” they wrote. “The attempts to stop Israel’s rabbis from expressing their opinions, the Torah’s opinions, using fear and threats, is a grave act and will not succeed.
\n“A regime that acts in this manner joins the evil regimes which have forbidden the study of the Torah and raised their hands against it. We therefore declare that we intend not to come to be questioned,” they concluded.<\/p>\n

The rabbis’ letter was submitted along with the signatures of over 50 rabbis, including city rabbis and yeshiva heads.<\/p>\n

Head of Yeshivat Or Etzion Rabbi Chaim Drukman, who is among the moderate leaders of the Religious Zionist rabbis and Chairman of the Union of Hesder Yeshivot, addressed Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein over the weekend and urged him to cancel the investigation summons.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, Rabbi Drukman slammed the decision to summon the rabbis and said police should not investigate rabbis, and rabbis should not appear for questioning.<\/p>\n

“Would they also investigate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef? Do they summon professors in the academia who call to boycott Israel and IDF commanders? Academic freedom should be extended to rabbis expressing the Torah’s word,” he said.<\/p>\n

Max Blumenthal finds some real terrorist-loving religious leaders<\/h3>\n

by Jesse Bacon<\/p>\n

Max Blumenthal exposes some religious leaders calling for the actual killing of babies and other Palestinians, a far worse rehtorical offense then \u201cfailing to condemn terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the book’s author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, ‘Non-Jews are \u201cuncompassionate by nature’ and should be killed in order to ‘curb their evil inclinations. If we kill a gentile who has has violated one of the seven commandments\u2026 there is nothing wrong with the murder,’ Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: ‘There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.’<\/p>\n

But because the religious leaders in question are Jewish, the Israeli government seems powerless to do much. When the spirtual leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made similar statements about killing Palestinians. \u201cGod should strike them with a plague, them [leaders like Mahmoud Abbas] and these Palestinians,\u201d Yosef’s son had endorsed the book mentioned above. Netanyahu responded with a disclaimer that the views of his own coalition member, the fifth largest party in Parliament, are not the views of his government. Blumenthal calls this statement, \u201cnot only weak. It was false.\u201d To paraphrase Dante Atkins’ Daily Kos post which asked the same question about General \u201cMy god was bigger than his god\u201d Boykin, who would you rather have build a community center in your neighborhood, Shapira or Imam Rauf? And whose views sound closer to those of Al-Qaeeda? And while Rauf is well-connected and even serves as a government envoy, he is far from the spirtual leader of a major political party. And yet Hamas is excluded from the direct talks, while Shas is able to participate, an imbalance that is just one of the many reasons these talks are doomed.<\/p>\n

Blumenthal reports on the following thought experiment, Palestinian Israeli member of Knesset Jamal Zehalka subsequently demanded that the Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein put Yosef on trial for incitement. ‘If, heaven forbid, a Muslim spiritual leader were to make anti-Jewish comments of this sort,’ Zehalka said, \u201che would be arrested immediately.’<\/p>\n

Stanley Fish describes the double standard well in the New York Times. The formula is simple and foolproof (although those who deploy it so facilely seem to think we are all fools): If the bad act is committed by a member of a group you wish to demonize, attribute it to a community or a religion and not to the individual. But if the bad act is committed by someone whose profile, interests and agendas are uncomfortably close to your own, detach the malefactor from everything that is going on or is in the air (he came from nowhere) and characterize him as a one-off, non-generalizable, sui generis phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Finally, James D. Besser blogs in New York’s Jewish week about the need for Jewish American leaders to condemn Yosef’s remarks. And wonder of wonders, the Anti Defamation League was the first to do so. Now if they would just condemn the abusive actions of the Israeli Governments, not just the abusive words of its members.<\/p>\n

Rabbinic Text or Call to Terror?<\/a>: Forward<\/h3>\n

Forward, January 20, 2010
\nBy Daniel Estrin
\nThe marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you\u2019d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore \u2014 but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prohibition \u2018Thou Shalt Not Murder\u2019\u201d applies only \u201cto a Jew who kills a Jew,\u201d write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are \u201cuncompassionate by nature\u201d and attacks on them \u201ccurb their evil inclination,\u201d while babies and children of Israel\u2019s enemies may be killed since \u201cit is clear that they will grow to harm us.\u201d
\n\u201cThe King\u2019s Torah (Torat Hamelech), Part One: Laws of Life and Death between Israel and the Nations,\u201d a 230-page compendium of Halacha, or Jewish religious law, published by the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, garnered a front-page expos\u00e9 in the Israeli tabloid Ma\u2019ariv, which called it the stuff of \u201cJewish terror.\u201d Now, the yeshiva is in the news again, with a January 18 raid on Yitzhar by more than 100 Israeli security officials who forcibly entered Od Yosef Chai and arrested 10 Jewish settlers. The Shin Bet, Israel\u2019s domestic security agency, suspects five of those arrested were involved in the torching and vandalizing of a Palestinian mosque last month in the neighboring Palestinian village of Yasuf. The arson provoked an international outcry and condemnation by Israeli religious figures, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who visited the village to personally voice his regret.<\/p>\n

Yet, both Metzger and his Sephardic counterpart, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, have declined to comment on the book, which debuted in November, while other prominent rabbis have endorsed it \u2014 among them, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Jewry\u2019s preeminent leader. Also, despite the precedent set by previous Israeli attorneys general in the last decade and a half to file criminal charges against settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting violence against non-Jews, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has so far remained mum about \u201cThe King\u2019s Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the public arena deals with the phenomenon and things become settled by themselves,\u201d Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told the Forward.
\nA coalition of religious Zionist groups, the \u201cTwelfth of Heshvan,\u201d\u2014\u2013 named after the Hebrew date of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin\u2019s assassination, has asked Israel\u2019s Supreme Court to order Mazuz to confiscate the books and arrest its authors.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou open the book, and you feel that you read a halachic book. And it\u2019s a trap,\u201d said Gadi Gvaryahu, a religious Jewish educator who heads the coalition. It was, in fact, \u201ca guidebook [on] how to kill,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n

Family members who answered phone calls placed to the homes of both authors said they did not wish to comment.<\/p>\n

In 2008, author Shapira was suspected of involvement in a crude rocket attack directed at a Palestinian village. Israeli police investigated but made no arrests.<\/p>\n

Co-author Elitzur wrote an article in a religious bulletin a month after the book\u2019s release saying that \u201cthe Jews will win with violence against the Arabs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2003, the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was charged by then-Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein with incitement to racism for authoring a book calling Arabs a \u201ccancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2006-2007, the Israeli Ministry of Education gave about a quarter of a million dollars to the yeshiva, and in 2007-2008 the yeshiva received about $28,000 from the American nonprofit Central Fund of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe King\u2019s Torah\u201d reflects a fringe viewpoint held by a minority of rabbis in the West Bank, said Avinoam Rosenak, a Hebrew University professor specializing in settler theology. Asher Cohen, a Bar Ilan University political science professor, thought its influence would be \u201czero\u201d because it appeals only to extreme ideologues.<\/p>\n

But the book\u2019s wide dissemination and the enthusiastic endorsements of prominent rabbis have spotlighted what might have otherwise remained an isolated commentary.<\/p>\n

At the entrance to Moriah, a large Jewish bookstore steps from the Western Wall, copies of \u201cThe King\u2019s Torah\u201d were displayed with children\u2019s books and other halachic commentaries. The store manager, who identified himself only as Motti, said the tome has sold \u201cexcellently.\u201d Other stores carrying the book include Robinson Books, a well-known, mostly secular bookshop in a hip Tel Aviv shopping district; Pomeranz Bookseller, a major Jewish book emporium near the Ben Yehuda mall in downtown Jerusalem; and Felhendler, a Judaica store on the main artery of secular Rehovot, home of the Weizmann Institute.<\/p>\n

The yeshiva declined to comment on publication statistics. But Itzik, a Tel Aviv-area book distributor hired by the yeshiva who declined to give his last name because of the book\u2019s nature, said the yeshiva had sold 1,000 copies to individuals and bookstores countrywide. He said an additional 1,000 copies were now being printed.<\/p>\n

Mendy Feldheim, owner of Feldheim Publishers, Israel\u2019s largest Judaica publishing house, said he considered this a \u201cnice\u201d sales figure for a tome of rabbinic Halacha in Israel. He said his own company, which distributes to 200 bookstores nationwide, is not distributing \u201cThe King\u2019s Torah\u201d because the book\u2019s publishers did not approach the company.<\/p>\n

Prominent religious figures wrote letters of endorsement that preface the book. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, blessed the authors and wrote that many \u201cdisciples of Torah are unfamiliar with these laws.\u201d The elder Yosef has not commented on his son\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba and a respected figure among many mainstream religious Zionists, noted that the book is \u201cvery relevant especially in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, one of the country\u2019s most respected rabbinic commentators, initially endorsed the book, but rescinded his approval a month after its release, saying that the book includes statements that \u201chave no place in human intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

A handful of settler rabbis echoed Goldberg\u2019s censure, including Shlomo Aviner, chief rabbi of Beit El and head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, who said he had \u201cno patience\u201d to read the book, and spoke out against it to his students.<\/p>\n

Previously, Israel has arrested settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting the killing of non-Jews. In addition to Ginsburgh, the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva head, in 1994, the government jailed Rabbi Ido Elba of Hebron for writing a 26-page article proclaiming it a \u201cmitzva to kill every non-Jew from the nation that is fighting the Jew, even women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere has changed,\u201d said Yair Sheleg, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, who specializes in issues of religion and state. Previous governments took a tougher stance against such publications, he said, but \u201cparadoxically, because the tension between the general settler population and the Israeli judicial system\u2026is high now, the attorney general is careful not to heighten the tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not uncommon for some settler rabbis, in the unique conditions of West Bank settlement life, to issue religious decrees, or psakim, that diverge from normative Jewish practice. In 2008, Avi Gisser, considered a moderate rabbi from the settlement of Ofra, ruled that Jews may violate Sabbath laws and hire non-Jews to build hilltop settlements. And in 2002, Yediot Aharanot reported that former Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu sanctioned Jewish harvesting of Palestinian-owned olive trees.<\/p>\n

Settler Rabbi publishes \u201cThe complete guide to killing non-Jews\u201d<\/a>: Coteret<\/h3>\n

November 9, 2009<\/p>\n

Max Blumenthal reports from a conference supporting the rabbi (older updates at bottom.)<\/p>\n

The ultra-fundamentalist Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar is infamous for its involvement in settler violence against Palestinians. Memorably, one of the students fired a homemade \u201cKassam\u201d rocket at the neighboring village of Burin in June 2008. This morning, Maariv reports that the Yeshiva\u2019s dean has just published on the proscribed dos and don\u2019ts (mainly the former) regarding the killing of gentiles. Here are some choice excerpts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any situation in which a non-Jew\u2019s presence endangers Jewish lives, the non-Jew may be killed even if he is a righteous Gentile and not at all guilty for the situation that has been created\u2026When a non-Jew assists a murderer of Jews and causes the death of one, he may be killed, and in any case where a non-Jew\u2019s presence causes danger to Jews, the non-Jew may be killed\u2026The [Din Rodef] dispensation applies even when the pursuer is not threatening to kill directly, but only indirectly\u2026Even a civilian who assists combat fighters is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Anyone who assists the army of the wicked in any way is strengthening murderers and is considered a pursuer. A civilian who encourages the war gives the king and his soldiers the strength to continue. Therefore, any citizen of the state that opposes us who encourages the combat soldiers or expresses satisfaction over their actions is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Also, anyone who weakens our own state by word or similar action is considered a pursuer\u2026Hindrances\u2014babies are found many times in this situation. They block the way to rescue by their presence and do so completely by force. Nevertheless, they may be killed because their presence aids murder. There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.\u201d\u2026
\nIn a chapter entitled \u201cDeliberate harm to innocents,\u201d the book explains that war is directled mainly against the pursuers, but those who belong to the enemy nation are also considered the enemy because they are assisting murderers.<\/p>\n

The complete guide to killing non-Jews
\nRoi Sharon, Maariv, November 9 2009 [page 2 with front page teaser]<\/p>\n

When is it permissible to kill non-Jews? The book Torat ha-Melekh [The King\u2019s Teaching], which was just published, was written by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, the dean of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in the community of Yitzhar near Nablus, together with another rabbi from the yeshiva, Yossi Elitzur. The book contains no fewer than 230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guide for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew.<\/p>\n

Although the book is not being distributed by the leading book companies, it has already received warm recommendations from right-wing elements, including recommendations from important rabbis such as Yitzhak Ginsburg, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, that were printed at the beginning of the book. The book is being distributed via the Internet and through the yeshiva, and at this stage the introductory price is NIS 30 per copy. At the memorial ceremony that was held over the weekend in Jerusalem for Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was killed nineteen years ago, copies of the book were sold.<\/p>\n

Throughout the book, the authors deal with in-depth theoretical questions in Jewish religious law regarding the killing of non-Jews. The words \u201cArabs\u201d and \u201cPalestinians\u201d are not mentioned even indirectly, and the authors are careful to avoid making explicit statements in favor of an individual taking the law into his own hands. The book includes hundreds of sources from the Bible and religious law. The book includes quotes from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, one of the fathers of religious Zionism, and from Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli, one of the deans of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, the stronghold of national-religious Zionism that is located in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The book opens with a prohibition against killing non-Jews and justifies it, among other things, on the grounds of preventing hostility and any desecration of God\u2019s name. But very quickly, the authors move from prohibition to permission, to the various dispensations for harming non-Jews, with the central reason being their obligation to uphold the seven Noahide laws, which every human being on earth must follow. Among these commandments are prohibitions on theft, bloodshed and idolatry. [The seven Noahide laws prohibit idolatry, murder, theft, illicit sexual relations, blasphemy and eating the flesh of a live animal, and require societies to institute just laws and law courts]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we approach a non-Jew who has violated the seven Noahide laws and kill him out of concern for upholding these seven laws, no prohibition has been violated,\u201d states the book, which emphasizes that killing is forbidden unless it is done in obedience to a court ruling. But later on, the authors limit the prohibition, noting that it applies only to a \u201cproper system that deals with non-Jews who violate the seven Noahide commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book includes another conclusion that explains when a non-Jew may be killed even if he is not an enemy of the Jews. \u201cIn any situation in which a non-Jew\u2019s presence endangers Jewish lives, the non-Jew may be killed even if he is a righteous Gentile and not at all guilty for the situation that has been created,\u201d the authors state. \u201cWhen a non-Jew assists a murderer of Jews and causes the death of one, he may be killed, and in any case where a non-Jew\u2019s presence causes danger to Jews, the non-Jew may be killed.\u201d When a non-Jew assists a murderer of Jews and causes the death of one, he may be killed, and in any case where a non-Jew\u2019s presence causes danger to Jews, the non-Jew may be killed\u2026<\/p>\n

One of the dispensations for killing non-Jews, according to religious law, applies in a case of din rodef [the law of the \u201cpursuer,\u201d according to which one who is pursuing another with murderous intent may be killed extrajudicially] even when the pursuer is a civilian. \u201cThe dispensation applies even when the pursuer is not threatening to kill directly, but only indirectly,\u201d the book states. \u201cEven a civilian who assists combat fighters is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Anyone who assists the army of the wicked in any way is strengthening murderers and is considered a pursuer. A civilian who encourages the war gives the king and his soldiers the strength to continue. Therefore, any citizen of the state that opposes us who encourages the combat soldiers or expresses satisfaction over their actions is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Also, anyone who weakens our own state by word or similar action is considered a pursuer.\u201d
\nRabbis Shapira and Elitzur determine that children may also be harmed because they are \u201chindrances.\u201d The rabbis write as follows: \u201cHindrances\u2014babies are found many times in this situation. They block the way to rescue by their presence and do so completely by force. Nevertheless, they may be killed because their presence aids murder. There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the children of the leader may be harmed in order to apply pressure to him. If attacking the children of a wicked ruler will influence him not to behave wickedly, they may be harmed. \u201cIt is better to kill the pursuers than to kill others,\u201d the authors state.<\/p>\n

In a chapter entitled \u201cDeliberate harm to innocents,\u201d the book explains that war is directly mainly against the pursuers, but those who belong to the enemy nation are also considered the enemy because they are assisting murderers.<\/p>\n

Retaliation also has a place and purpose in this book by Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur. \u201cIn order to defeat the enemy, we must behave toward them in a spirit of retaliation and measure for measure,\u201d they state. \u201cRetaliation is absolutely necessary in order to render such wickedness not worthwhile. Therefore, sometimes we do cruel deeds in order to create the proper balance of terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one of the footnotes, the two rabbis write in such a way that appears to permit individuals to act on their own, outside of any decision by the government or the army.<\/p>\n

\u201cA decision by the nation is not necessary to permit shedding the blood of the evil kingdom,\u201d the rabbis write. \u201cEven individuals from the nation being attacked may harm them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike books of religious law that are published by yeshivas, this time the rabbis added a chapter containing the book\u2019s conclusions. Each of the six chapters is summarized into main points of several lines, which state, among other things:
\n\u201cIn religious law, we have found that non-Jews are generally suspected of shedding Jewish blood, and in war, this suspicion becomes a great deal stronger. One must consider killing even babies, who have not violated the seven Noahide laws, because of the future danger that will be caused if they are allowed to grow up to be as wicked as their parents.\u201d
\nEven though the authors are careful, as stated, to use the term \u201cnon-Jews,\u201d there are certainly those who could interpret the nationality of the \u201cnon-Jews\u201d who are liable to endanger the Jewish people. This is strengthened by the leaflet \u201cThe Jewish Voice,\u201d which is published on the Internet from Yitzhar, which comments on the book: \u201cIt is superfluous to note that nowhere in the book is it written that the statements are directly only to the ancient non-Jews.\u201d The leaflet\u2019s editors did not omit a stinging remark directed at the GSS, who will certainly take the trouble to get themselves a copy. \u201cThe editors suggest to the GSS that they award the prize for Israel\u2019s security to the authors,\u201d the leaflet states, \u201cwho gave the detectives the option of reading the summarized conclusions without any need for in-depth study of the entire book.\u201d<\/p>\n

One student of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar explained, from his point of view, where Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur got the courage to speak so freely on a subject such as the killing of non-Jews. \u201cThe rabbis aren\u2019t afraid of prosecution because in that case, Maimonides [Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, 1135\u20131204] and Nahmanides [Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, 1194\u20131270] would have to stand trial too, and anyway, this is research on religious law,\u201d the yeshiva student said. \u201cIn a Jewish state, nobody sits in jail for studying Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paper jam: Bureaucracy causes checkpoint chaos<\/a>: Haaretz<\/h3>\n

Confusion reigns as several agencies share responsibility for security arrangements.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though a Defense Ministry unit was set up five years ago to oversee checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank, these checkpoints are still run by no fewer than six different agencies, and no single body coordinates their work, Haaretz has found.<\/p>\n

The agencies running the checkpoints include the Israel Defense Forces, the Defense Ministry’s Crossing Administration, the Border Police and the regular police. In addition, staff work is carried out by the Counterterrorism Bureau, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Crossing Administration and the IDF Central Command. Haaretz found that none of these organizations were certain who has overall responsibility for these checkpoints.<\/p>\n

Unlike checkpoints within the West Bank, which are all operated by the military or the Border Police, checkpoints on the Green Line, which separates Israel from the West Bank, deal exclusively with Palestinians seeking to enter Israel. They are positioned at every crossing from the West Bank into Israel.<\/p>\n

The Green Line checkpoints are under the purview of the defense minister: He, together with his staff, is the one determines their location, size and operating procedures, the number of people allowed through, and so on.<\/p>\n

In addition to the minister, three other organizations have responsibilities in this area, but are not connected to each other. The first is COGAT, headed by Brig. Gen. Eitan Dangot, who answers directly to the minister. COGAT’s main component is the Civil Administration, which answers both to Dangot and to the GOC Central Command.<\/p>\n

The second is the Crossing Administration, which is mainly an operational body, but can occasionally influence policy. The third is the Defense Ministry’s political-security department, which deals with issues affected by the checkpoints, such as the West Bank economy.<\/p>\n

And alongside these agencies, which fall under the Defense Ministry, is the Counterterrorism Bureau, which is part of the Prime Minister’s Office.<\/p>\n

In 2003, the state comptroller published a report urging the development of an overall strategy for checkpoint administration. But only in 2005, when the comptroller began working on a follow-up report, did the cabinet finally decide to set up the Crossing Administration. It also decided to replace the soldiers at these checkpoints with private security companies answerable to the Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n

The administration was formally established in July 2005, just a month before the comptroller released his follow-up report. This report attributed the delay in dealing with the problem to disagreements among the relevant ministries.<\/p>\n

Adding to the confusion is the fact that two different bodies are responsible for each checkpoint: One is in charge of operating it, while the other is responsible for security. At the Tarqumiya checkpoint, for example, the body responsible for security is the Defense Ministry, but the actual operator is a private security contractor. In Shuafat, the organization in charge of security is the Jerusalem police, but the operator is the Border Police.<\/p>\n

A large number of new checkpoints were set up around the outskirts of Jerusalem following the cabinet’s decision to build the separation fence. All of these fall under the purview of the Jerusalem police, which set up a special administration to deal with them.<\/p>\n

A visit to the checkpoints around Jerusalem revealed that each organization involved sends representatives to every checkpoint. Thus military policemen stand alongside civilian security guards, Border Police officers, representatives of the special police administration and COGAT staff. A checkpoint known as the Rachel Terminal is operated by the regular police, while the nearby Wallaja checkpoint, which is closed to Palestinians, is run by the Border Police.<\/p>\n

EDITOR<\/strong>: Who is destroying What?…<\/span><\/p>\n

While Shavit, below, is right about the extreme nature the fascist right in Israel, he is wrong about them somehow being outside the boundaries of Zionism. They ARE the real face of Zionism, and not the mock-left of Shavit’s kind, which seeks to cloth Zionism with an acceptable face.<\/span><\/p>\n

Settlements are destroying Zionism<\/a>: Haaretz<\/h3>\n

The right is loonier than ever and about to turn Israel into South Africa.
\nBy Ari Shavit<\/p>\n

The radical right has been loony before, too. It was loony when it saw the Yom Kippur War drawing near and did not prevent it. It was loony when it saw peace with Egypt drawing near and tried to stop it. It was loony when it initiated the Lebanon war. It was loony when it built 150 settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

The radical right was loony when it toppled Yitzhak Shamir in 1992, when it toppled Benjamin Netanyahu in 1998, when it incited against Yitzhak Rabin and when it ranted and raved against Ariel Sharon. The right was loony when it gradually became messianic, batty and racist. The radical right was not just loony according to acceptable international terms. It was loony even based on it own principles. It refused to see reality, acted irrationally and irrevocably damaged Zionism.<\/p>\n

But now the radical right is especially loony. Why? Because now we can see the price. Now we see the abyss we have been led to. We see the delegitimization, the demography, the spoilage. We see that more is less. We see that having it all isn’t what it was cut out to be; that if we don’t draw a border for the Jewish state, there will be no Jewish state. We see that the occupation is about to turn Israel into South Africa; that the settlements are about to destroy Zionism. We see the clock striking midnight.<\/p>\n

Despite all this the loony right is staying on course. It still believes that the villa neighborhood in Elon Moreh is more important than an F-35 squadron. It still considers illegal outposts in the West Bank more important than Security Council resolutions. It still assumes that Israel’s power is measured in concrete and cement, roads and settlements. Backward views on state affairs make the loony right think it is serving Israel when in fact it is sabotaging Israel. The loony right is even undermining the settlement project. When it foils every compromise regarding the settlement blocs it is dooming all the settlers to the fate of the settlers in Algeria.<\/p>\n

A week ago Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drafted several understandings. It’s still not clear whether the understandings were serious. It’s still not clear whether they will be implemented or forgotten. But the Israeli interest in the understandings is perfectly clear – preventing a UN resolution on establishing a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, preventing the Palestinians from turning the construction in the settlements into their eternal alibi, and strengthening Israel’s security.<\/p>\n

The loony right refuses to see the crystal-clear Israeli interest. It is kicking and screaming, threatening and running amok. The very idea of freezing construction is driving it into a frenzy. The very attempt to resume the peace process is driving it berserk. With its mouth foaming the batty right demands that we all walk tall with eyes wide open to perdition.<\/p>\n

The conclusion is unequivocal – if Israel wants to live it must release itself from the loony right’s stranglehold. The settlers’ rabbis are not the State of Israel. Nor are Shas’ rabbis. National Union, Habayit Hayehudi and the Likud rebels are a tiny minority. Only because the political system isn’t functioning they gained power. Only because the silent majority is silent they can bring upon us one disaster after another. Because sane Israel is indifferent, loony Israel gets to lead us to the brink of catastrophe. Not because of an act of God but because we are weak-willed and dispirited we allow the wacky fringe groups to take over the national agenda. We let lunatics take us to dark places.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu sees this frenzy around him and gets nauseated. He knows very well that the loony right lacks a basic understanding of state affairs. He realizes that the loony right is dangerous. But to move from understanding to action, Netanyahu must achieve a political big bang. He must make opposition leader Tzipi Livni a substantial proposal. He must make a real effort to put together a Zionist government. Only a government consisting of the three central Zionist parties can deal with Zionism’s crumbling. Only a Likud-Kadima-Labor government can make the necessary decisions on the peace process. Only a different government can prevent the loony right from driving us all over the edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR: Hello?! Anybody home at the White House?! So the election has been and gone, Obama got his drubbing at the polls, and he is even less committed than he was before (if that is at all possible…) to just peace in the Middle East. He cannot afford to take on the Israeli government and … Continue reading November 18, 2010<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7064"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7067,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064\/revisions\/7067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}