The Jewish Ayatollahs

Uri Avnery


Rabbi Shapira, no grounds for remand (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)

The Archbishop of New York announces that any Catholic who rents out an apartment to a Jew commits a mortal sin and runs the risk of excommunication.

A protestant priest in Berlin decrees that a Christian who employs a Jew will be banished from his parish.

Impossible? Indeed. Except in Israel – in reverse, of course.

The rabbi of Safed, a government employee, has decreed that it is strictly forbidden to let apartments to Arabs – including the Arab students at the local medical school. Twenty other town rabbis – whose salaries are paid by the taxpayers, mostly secular, including Arab citizens - have publicly supported this edict. A group of Israeli intellectuals lodged a complaint with the Attorney General, arguing that this is a case of criminal incitement. The Attorney General promised to investigate the matter with all due haste. That was half a year ago. “Due haste” has not yet produced a decision.

The same goes for another group of rabbis, who prohibited employing Goyim.

(In ancient Hebrew, “Goy” just meant a people, any people. In the Bible, the Israelites were called a “holy Goy”. But in the last centuries, the term has come to mean non-Jews, with a decidedly derogatory undertone.)

This week, Israel was in uproar. The turmoil was caused by the arrest of Rabbi Dov Lior.

The affair goes back to a book released more than a year ago by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira. Shapira is, perhaps, the most extreme inhabitant of Yitzhar, which is perhaps the most extreme settlement in the West Bank. Its members are frequently accused of carrying out pogroms in the nearby Palestinian villages, generally in “retaliation” for army actions against structures that have been built without official consent.

The book, called Torat ha-Melekh (“the Teaching of the King”)[1] deals with the killing of Goyim. It says that in peacetime, Goyim should generally not be killed – not because of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” which, according to the book, applies to Jews only, but because of God’s command after the Deluge (Genesis 9:6): “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.” This applies to all Goyim who fulfill some basic commandments.

However, the situation is totally different in wartime. And according to the rabbis, Israel has been at war since its foundation, and probably will be for ever more.


Greece ignores racism to pursue alliance with Israel

Khalid Amayreh

It remains to be seen if Greece has completely abandoned its erstwhile moderate stance vis-à-vis the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

On the eve of his visit to Israel, Greek President Karolos Papoulias spoke of the "strong relationship in all aspects" between his country and the Zionist state. The fact that Israel continues to occupy Palestine, expand Jewish-only colonies on occupied territory and persecute millions of Palestinians, including many who practice Greek Orthodox Christianity in the West Bank, seems to have little or no bearing on the evolving relations between the Greek and Israeli governments.

"We are now involved in an intensive process of cooperation. Our ministers and officials systematically consult and work together on all levels and in key areas, including energy, defence and security, as well as agriculture and tourism," said the Greek president.

He added that "we are also working together on international issues and matters of regional concern to both countries. We are pursuing a strong relationship on trade, investment, political and security cooperation."

Greece is a sovereign state and should be free to pursue its various interests as its sees fit. However, it must also be aware of the negative ramifications that come with having close ties with what is essentially a rogue state whose modus operandi is based on ethnic cleansing, land theft and organised state terror against the Palestinians native to the Holy Land.

In recent months and weeks, the Greek air force has held joint exercises with its Israeli counterparts in the eastern Mediterranean. Moreover, the Greek authorities are widely believed to have connived with Israeli intelligence agents to thwart the Freedom Flotilla II planning to take much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, still in the grip of Israel's siege. The flotilla was set to highlight the illegitimacy, illegality and utter criminality of the 5-year-blockade on the coastal enclave.

The latest measure by the Greek authorities is quite inexplicable; Athens stands accused of condoning Israel's near fascist persecution and repression of the Palestinian people. Papoulias spoke of a "common culture" between Israel and Greece, ignoring the all-too obvious fact that racism represents the heart and soul of Israeli political and popular culture today. Is such vile discrimination held in common with the Greeks?


Freedom Flotilla II: Final Thoughts

Stephen Lendman

Palestinian analyst/advocate/author and former journalist Nadia Hijab is right, saying "(i)t was never about aid." In her article titled, "Freedom Flotilla II: No to a Kinder, Gentler Siege," she said like earlier and new initiatives to come, it's "a political act" against Israel's illegal occupation/Gaza blockade - forced isolation, in fact, since 1988 "permit system" terrorism was instituted.

In 1991, closures began, "institutionalized" in 1993, then a 1994 electronic wall, and continued repression by lawless incursions, air attacks, home demolitions, targeted assassinations, mass arrests, daily intimidation, Cast Lead, and virtually anything Israel can dream up to collectively punish 1.6 million people, guilty of being Arabs, not Jews.

Flotillas and other humanitarian efforts aren't about delivering "goods," said Hijab. They're about freedom, self-determination, and ending Israel's lawless chokehold, violating international laws, norms and principles grievously for decades, complicit with rogue partners against justice, shamelessly supporting crimes of war and against humanity.


Stupid democrats, stupid republicans

David Michael Green

There are precious few things that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, but one of them is that Barack Obama is a liberal.

That rare manifestation of consensus might ordinarily be occasion for celebration (according to conventional wisdom, at least – though certainly not mine – which celebrates consensus), except for one pesky problematic detail: the notion is utterly ludicrous.

Consider a batch of recent headlines as merely the most proximate examples of a phenomenon that’s been on display since before the president was inaugurated.

Last week, the New York Times ran a front page piece, entitled “U.S. Pressing Its Crackdown Against Leaks”, in which it was noted that, “The Justice Department shows no sign of rethinking its campaign to punish unauthorized disclosures to the news media, with five criminal cases so far under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents combined. This week, a grand jury in Virginia heard testimony in a continuing investigation of WikiLeaks, the antisecrecy group, a rare effort to prosecute those who publish secrets, rather than those who leak them.” Though the article doesn’t mention it, we should also note here that the Obama administration is also all but Gitmo-style torturing Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing documents to Wikileaks.

The article does allude, however, to the gross inappropriateness of the charges in many of these cases, a sentiment that is even joined by several conservative commentators and national security experts. In particular, the White House is bringing down the hammer on individuals who appear to be fully patriotic public servants, who acted as whistle-blowers in order to live up to their own patriotic standards. In other words, the secrets they were publicizing had no effect in terms of jeopardizing national security, unless one defines protecting the nation as covering up malfeasance, corruption or waste in government. No doubt some people do define it as exactly that, since, by some purely random coincidence, doing so happens to serve very well their own interests. Evidently the big liberal now in the Oval Office concurs.


Pew Poll Shows Evangelical Christian Zionist's Rapture Quest Failing

Charles E. Carlson

A recent Global Survey of Evangelical Protestant Leaders, taken by the Pew Forum for Religious and Public Life, reveals cracks in the structure of Evangelicalism, best described as Judeo-Christianity, welcome news for all those who labor for world peace and financial stability. [1]

The report states that "U.S. evangelical leaders are especially downbeat about the prospects for evangelical Christianity in their society; 82% say evangelicals are losing influence in the United States today, while only 17% think evangelicals are gaining influence." In the global north 66% say evangelical Christianity is having decreased influence on life, and 31% think it is increasing. More than half of U.S. leaders (53%) see the current state of evangelical Christianity in America as worse than it was five years ago. And as U.S. leaders look a few years ahead, about half (48%) expect the state of Evangelical Christianity to worsen.

The survey reveals that not all "evangelicals" are Christian Zionists and The Pew Forum has learned how to tell the difference. The Evangelical boat is leaking much worse in America and Europe than in the southern hemisphere, where missionaries are far more optimistic about the future of Evangelicalism in their countries. Perhaps this is because mission workers in the field are more attuned to work and service and less preoccupied with social pursuits and monetary success.

As I interpret this poll, significant weakening of Evangelicalism can be traced to a preoccupation with Israel that is anything but scriptural. The poll asked two related and telling questions: "Does God's covenant with the Jewish people continue today?" And, "Is the state of Israel the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy?" The latter is a question we believe should be asked of every "Christian," including our own pastors, parents, and children.


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