Israeli rabbis: Don't spare civilians

[ When such a disregard of human life is promoted how can we expect any 
solution to come out of this besides "final solutions" from both sides? -j ]

< quote >
a "thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail".
< / quote >

wtf -----^

Israeli rabbis: Don't spare civilians
by Khalid Amayreh in Hebron
Tuesday 07 September 2004 10:45 AM GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/554FAF3A-B267-427A-B9EC-54881BDE0A2E.htm?printguid={BB82FCC4-F4D4-495F-8637-C3008159E1C8} 


Israeli rabbis say killing enemy civilians during war is 'normal'

A group of prominent Jewish rabbis have asked the Israeli army not to 
flinch from killing Palestinian civilians in the context of the ongoing 
military campaign against armed groups resisting the occupation.

In a letter to the Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, published on 
Tuesday, the rabbis said killing enemy civilians is "normal" during the 
time of war and that the Israeli occupation army should never hesitate 
to kill non-Jewish civilians in order to save Jewish lives.

"There is no war in the world in which it is possible to delineate 
entirely between the population and the enemy army, neither in the US 
war in Iraq, the Russian war in Chechnya, nor in Israel's war with its 
enemies," the rabbis said.

The rabbis quoted a Talmudic edict, or religious ruling, stating that 
"our lives come first".

"The Christian preaching of 'turning the other cheek' doesn't concern 
us, and we will not be impressed by those who prefer the lives of our 
enemies to our lives," they said.

Opposing branches

The letter was signed by a number of Israeli rabbis including Haim 
Druckman, a former Knesset member who heads a large religious youth 
movement known as the Bnei Akiva Society; Eliezer Melamed, head of a 
West Bank religious college; and Youval Sharlo, the head of another 
Talmudic college in Petah Tikva which combines Talmudic studies with 
active military service.

It is worth noting that many rabbis, especially within Conservative and 
Reform Judaism, don't share the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox view of 
non-Jews.

But the Conservative and Reform branches of Judaism, despite their 
numerical superiority, have very little influence in Israel and are 
generally mistreated by the powerful Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox 
branches, who view secular Jews as somehow less than real Jews.

Incidentally, a few months ago a prominent rabbi in the Jewish 
settlement of Kiryat Arbaa near Hebron issued an edict stating that 
non-Jewish civilians may be killed to save Jewish lives, soldiers and 
civilians alike.

The rabbi, Dov Lior, argued that non-Jewish lives had no sanctity, 
especially during the time of war.

Lior has publicly praised and eulogised Baruch Goldstein, an American 
Jewish settler who in 1994 mowed down 29 Arab worshippers who were 
praying at Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque.

Calling Goldstein a "great saint", he said a "thousand non-Jewish lives 
are not worth a Jew's fingernail".

Talmudic maxim

Earlier this year, Lior enthusiastically supported the killing of 
Palestinian civilians in Rafah in southern Gaza, saying that "it is very 
clear in light of the Torah that Jewish lives are more important than 
non-Jewish lives".

Prominent Israeli rabbis in letter to Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz
In formulating their theological positions, Lior and other like-minded 
rabbis rely on an old Talmudic maxim which states that it is a mitzvah 
(imperative religious duty) to kill enemy civilians in war time.

The same rabbis also often quote Torah verses in which God is shown 
instructing the ancient Israelites to annihilate the Canaanites in 
ancient Palestine.

Since the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, the Israeli 
army and paramilitary Jewish groups have killed as many as 3500 
Palestinians, the bulk of them civilians, including more than 600 
children and minors.

During the same period, Palestinian fighters have killed nearly a 
thousand Israeli soldiers, settlers and civilians.

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BB82FCC4-F4D4-495F-8637-C3008159E1C8.htm 

_______________________________________________
heads mailing list
[email protected]
http://your.ballistichelmet.org/mailman/listinfo/heads/
http://ballistichelmet.org/donate/