[PAA-Discuss] FW: My God!

[Rick _lux]

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Jeff T

Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 8:43:40 PM
Subject: My God!

Israel’s Orthodox Rabbis: ‘Palestinians to the Ovens!’
      
Richard Silverstein
      
      
      
      
      






Editorial in Orthodox 'family magazine' advocating death camps for Palestinians





Tikun Olam, January 15, 2011 

Back
in the days of the Shoah, one of the slogans of the Jew haters was:
"Jews to the Ovens." Now, it causes me anguish to say, we have Israeli
Orthodox rabbis saying the same about the Palestinians.
Thanks to Cicero for pointing me to a shocking passage in an Israeli Orthodox "family magazine," Fountains of Salvation, which suggests that Israel will create death camps for Palestinians in order to wipe them out like Amalek.
 The article attacks Israeli rabbis who dispute the letter recently
circulated from pro-settler extremist rabbis which urged that no
Israeli Jew rent apartments or homes to Israeli Palestinians.  It
chided them for being "politically correct" and refusing to do their
jobs and educate the populace in the true path of Torah (which is
presumably to hate Palestinians).

The last paragraph (page 4 of the original) though is the whopper:
It will be
interesting to see whether they leave the assembly of the Amalekites
[Palestinians] in extermination camps to others, or whether they will
declare that wiping out Amalek is no longer [historically] relevant.
 Only time will tell…
A few words of explanation.
 There is a Biblical command for Jews to wipe out Amalek because of the
viciousness with which that people attacked Israelites.  Essentially,
this is a Jewish call to commit genocide against Amalek.  We should
note that the Bible records such Jewish campaigns against other tribes
as well (Moabites, Jebusites) and no doubt others did the same to their
enemies.
Rabbis throughout the ages have
allegorized the reference to Amalek to connote any sworn enemy of the
Jewish people from Hitler to Barack Obama (yes, prominent American
Orthodox Jews wrote such garbage before the last election).  But this
is the first time I’ve ever read any Orthodox publication calling for
committing genocide against Palestinians.
As Cicero pointed out to me, the
articulation of this passage doesn’t only refer to Palestinians (though
most likely this was specifically who the writer had in mind given the
context).  It can refer to any enemy of the Jewish people including you
or me.
Now a word on who is behind this
publication: it is the cream of the crop of the radical right-wing
Israeli Orthodox rabbinate.  It was founded by the former chief rabbi
of Safed, whose son currently holds that position and who circulated
the letter I refer to above.  Another is the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan
and finally Rabbi Avinar, suspected of sexually abusing a troubled
woman who approached him for spiritual advice.  Each of them holds paid
government sinecures, allowing them to spew hate on the dime of the
Israeli taxpayer.

This raises the important
question: why does the U.S. government allow tax-deductible
contributions to Israeli charities like Chabad given their propagation
of such genocidal rhetoric?
Cicero first learned about the Chabad article from Udi Aloni’s Ynet column,
which pointed it out.  He points out that it has been his custom in
criticizing Israelis who support the Occupation to attack the liberal
elite which is characterized by the slogan "shooting and crying."
 Instead, he says he now will have to pay closer attention to the
radical Orthodox who "shoot and laugh."  Aloni imagines the young
Orthodox boy reading this publication in his synagogue where it’s
distributed, who conjures to himself with a smile on his face the
picture of Palestinians standing behind barbed wire in such a camp.
 This is the legacy these rabbis are bequeathing to their young
followers.
Finally, since I know people of
all ideological stripes may read into this story what they wish, I want
to make clear that this is not Judaism.  These wicked men may be Jews
and rabbis, but they don’t represent normative Judaism any more than
Osama bin Laden represents normative Islam.  Do not make the mistake of
conflating this idiocy with all of Israel or all of Judaism.  Yes,
these men are dangerous, they are hateful, and they must be challenged.
 But there is another face of Judaism and another face of Israel
(though that is becoming increasingly difficult to see I concede).






      
      
    
  



 

::  Article nr. 73956 sent on 16-jan-2011 07:08 ECT


www.uruknet.info?p=73956 		 	   		  
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