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

[freepalestine]

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

Richard Silverstein




http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=15-1122011-23409-pm.bmp.jpg (http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=15-1122011-23409-pm.bmp.jpg)

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





Tikun Olam (http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/12/israels-orthodox-rabbis-palestinians-to-the-ovens/), 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 (http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/ViewEntry.asp?EntryId=1878686) for pointing me to a shocking passage (http://www.myim.co.il/modules/alonim/pdf/117.pdf) 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 (http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4011912,00.html), 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 (http://www.uruknet.info/?p=73956)</I>

[Reznov]

Well, what else would you expect from Israel?

They already took the land from the people, and are now just wanting to fully get rid of them like pests.

[Apoi_Viitor]

I think the writer could have chosen a more acceptable title...

[freepalestine]

I think the writer could have chosen a more acceptable title...
yeh you maybe right,yet the amount of rabbis in isreal-and rabbi groups calling for genocide of palestinians has been getting louder.
more so over the past 6months...
this is a similar article from a day or 2 ago.....



Jewish Orthodox publication openly calls for death camps

Yossi Gurvitz

January 15 2011

Orthodox rabbis long for the day when they’ll wipe out Amalekites, and two more notes
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m73948&hd=&size=1&l=e





.

[Apoi_Viitor]

Orthodox rabbis long for the day when they’ll wipe out Amalekites, and two more notes
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m73948&hd=&size=1&l=e.

"And the Lord opened the Mouth of the Ass: Sarah Palin found itself stuck in a mess of her own doing after the Tucson shooting. So, after a few days of shock and Headless Chicken Drill – i.e., running around in circles – in Camp Palin, she came out with a petulant speech.

And immediately stepped on a landmine. Being a complete ignoramus, she described the media claims against her as "blood libel". OOPS! Nobody told her this is a registered sign of self-victimized Jews! She wandered onto the wrong turf. Hence, Jewish leaders opened fire. Even Abe Foxman, always merciful when in comes to conservatives and Republicans, had no choice but to slap her lightly.

So, Sara, here are the new ground rules: Sitting quietly during a sermon in which a pastor describes suicide bombing against Israelis as God’s wrath for rejecting Christianity – fine and dandy; Trespassing on Jewish monopoly on victimhood, not so much. And if you can’t understand this basic rule, you have no business being in politics."

It would be much easier to claim that criticism of Israel is the result of their policies and not their beliefs, if writers attempted to refrain from stuff like this... I mean, I don't expect prominent Israeli leaders or politicians to say anything other than vile discriminatory shit, but I expect better from a journalist.

[the last donut of the night]

As Marx said, history does repeat itself: first as tragedy, then as farce. When I was a kid, I wondered how people could've politically supported or admired Nazi Germany, the Jim Crow South, or done nothing to stop such bloody regimes. But seeing this and the stuff happening the couple of last years, I've come to the sad conclusion that propaganda and media distortion, accompanied with racism, is to blame. If these calls are actually finally taken into action by the Israeli elite (in a sort of last "The Palestinian Question" deal) and it doesn't really interfere with American interests, then hell, we'll have people defending the massacre. Or liberals justifying it to some extent: "yes, it's bad, but you have to understand Israel's position", etc. And that's the scary part. It just convinces me ever more that the only solution to this is not liberalism, is not reform, it's not imperialist war -- but workers' revolution and nothing else.

[Frosty Weasel]

By God, the Hebrew doesn't lie.

[Ocean Seal]

Its ironic how these very people would have decried the acts of Nazi Germany when they were the ones that were being thrown in the ovens, but now that the gauntlet is on the other hand they embrace it. Genocide is disgusting, but the apathy around it is even worse. No one does anything for Palestine, you can't even donate without becoming a suspected terrorist, and the United States gives measly aid to the Palestinian people. I think it was something like 500,000 dollars in general aid that Obama gave them? That's insulting, considering the tragedy that is happening there.

[Frosty Weasel]

Its ironic how these very people would have decried the acts of Nazi Germany when they were the ones that were being thrown in the ovens, but now that the gauntlet is on the other hand they embrace it.When describing it to other people I simply state the fact that when using the term Anti-Semitic, you unconsciously place the hatred of Jews above the hatred of other groups, as if it were worse to hate Jews than say, the Romani.

Racism is racism no matter the term or people.

The more Fascist elements of Israeli society have used the term as a political tool against external critics of the Israeli government.

[PhoenixAsh]

When describing it to other people I simply state the fact that when using the term Anti-Semitic, you unconsciously place the hatred of Jews above the hatred of other groups, as if it were worse to hate Jews than say, the Romani.

Racism is racism no matter the term or people.

The more Fascist elements of Israeli society have used the term as a political tool against external critics of the Israeli government.

You are completely right.

I was once at a meeting with a jewish friend. And criticism of Israel was denounced by someone as anti-semetic and holocaust enabaling. This person offcourse ignored all the evidence and facts in the argumentation and criticism.

My friend simply blew up. Standing up in the middle of the crowd interrupting the speaker yelling how the person insulted the holocaust survivors and the reasons they died. Stating that the liberal and indiscriminate over use of the term actually was used as a mask to obfuscate the very same crimes committed against his grandparents, aunts, uncles...by rejecting those accusations and justifying them post-fact on the deaths of these ancestors.

He then proceeded to call the man, a rabi, a traitor to the jewish religon and to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and denounced him as actually being no better than the nazies in defaming the Jewish religion. and in fact a antisemite himself...claiming that only jews were semites...that he obviously should be expelled from his function and should be ostrazised from the jewish faith.


We were kicked out ;-)

But that made a huge impresion on me

[Metacomet]

This just makes all Jews look bad.

My best friend is a Hasidic jew, who recently moved to Israel. And believe me, not everyone there is like that. Most of the people he has met do not hate Palestinians, or really anyone else. They are just like everyone else, and want to be safe and have enough to eat.

His Rabbi certainly wouldn't support such a thing. Either would any of the people on the Kibbutz he wants to join.

To be fair none of the Arabs he has met want to strap a bomb to themselves and blow up a restaurant either.