← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · londo
Thread ID: 14982 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2004-09-13
2004-09-13 04:09 | User Profile
Israeli rabbis: Don't spare civilians By Khalid Amayreh in Hebron Sep 10, 2004, 12:56
Tuesday 07 September 2004, 19:47 Makka Time, 16:47 GMT
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.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews rush to pray at Tomb of the Patriarch, Hebron
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.
[url=http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_11664.shtml] Read the rest here. [/url]