Growth of Religious Extremism in Israel Threatens The Peace Process By Allan C. Brownfeld Just as the majority of Israelis and Palestinians have been moving toward acceptance of a compromise peace settlement for the region, the growth of religious extremism in Israel is making it increasingly difficult for the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak to move forward in the final stage talks. At the same time, many sectors of the American Jewish community are encouraging such extremism as a roadblock to the territorial adjustments which are necessary and which they oppose. Settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are now gearing up for what they describe as the “final battle for our home.” Militant rabbis are also weighing in. As they did in 1995, prior to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, they have issued statements declaring that giving up any portion of the “Land of Israel” is contrary to Jewish law. When Rabin held office, the ultra-Orthodox weekly Hashavna (“The Week”) was used by its publisher, Asher Zuckerman, to wage a vicious crusade against the prime minister. The magazine regularly called Rabin “a Kapo,” “an anti-Semite,” “ruthless,” and “a pathological liar.” The weekly, which is read by close to 20 percent of the ultra-Orthodox community, published a symposium on the question of whether Rabin deserved to die and the appropriate means of executing him. By the critical summer of 1995 Hashavna went so far as to charge that Rabin and Peres “are leading the state and its citizens to annihilation and must be placed before a firing squad.” A group of Orthodox rabbis gave religious sanction to the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. These rabbis, both in Israel and abroad, revived two obsolete concepts—din rodef (the duty to kill a Jew who imperils the life and property of another Jew) and din moser (the duty to eliminate a Jew who intends to turn in another Jew to non-Jewish authorities). By relinquishing rule over parts of the biblical Land of Israel to the Palestinian Authority, these rabbis argued, the head of the Israeli government had become a moser. By thus branding Rabin, they effectively declared open season on his life. Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun, an Orthodox rabbi critical of those who embarked upon this enterprise, declared: “Hundreds of people heard the word rodef in connection with the late prime minister months before and around the time of the murder. The fact that these discussions leaked out and inspired heated public debate in the religious community turned the obsolete notions of rodef and moser into household words.” “If Barak evacuates settlements, he might be murdered.” Now, once again, such extremism seems to be on the rise in Israel. For example, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas, a key party in Prime Minister Barak’s ruling coalition, compared Education Minister Yossi Sarid, head of the leftist Meretz Party, to Satan and two other hated figures in the Scriptures. At a sermon during the festival of Purim, Rabbi Yosef said Mr. Sarid “is Amalek [described in the Bible as the sworn enemy of Israel], he is Satan...May his memory be wiped out. He must be uprooted from the seed of Israel....Just as revenge was wrought on Haman, so it will be wrought on him.” The rabbi’s words were received with thunderous applause and shouts of approval. This speech reminded many Israelis of the hostility which preceded Rabin’s assassination, and caused Israel’s attorney general seriously to consider a criminal prosecution. In June, Benny Katzover, a settler leader, called Sarid “an executioner among executioners” because he is “ready to transfer tens of thousands of Jews to the enlightened regime of his excellency Yasser Arafat.” Katzover also suggested that protesters not stick to the “law book” in their demonstrations. Rabbi Daniel Shilo reiterated that “the transfer of parts of Eretz Yisrael amounts to treason.” Shimon Riklin, leader of a group of young militant settlers, warned: “If Barak evacuates settlements, he might be murdered.” Carmi Gillon, head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, warns against such remarks, saying the possibility of their leading to violence should not be underestimated. The “Final Battle” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in June that, “Threatening letters arrive regularly to the premier’s office. One recently sent anonymously to Moledat Knesset member Benny Elon read, ”˜To the best of my judgment, one should prepare a shelf plan to assassinate Ehud Barak. Just like the Oslo accord process was slowed down after the annihilation of Yitzhak Rabin, one can prevent withdrawal in the Golan by annihilating Ehud Barak.’ Settler preparations for the ”˜final battle’ are strongest in the areas where radicalism is usually most pronounced—Hebron, Beit-El and Kedumim.” The Jerusalem Report of July 3 reports the views of settlement leader Shimon Riklin: “Shimon Riklin walked into a pizza parlor in downtown Jerusalem the other day immediately after stating on a TV talk show that he thought Prime Minister Ehud Barak, because of his readiness to give up settlements to the Palestinians, was in danger of assassination. It was well after midnight, he recalls, and the five customers lingering about over their pizza slices and beer recognized the young settler leader and began chanting. ”˜Why were you so apologetic?’ one asked him. ”˜Barak is a traitor and should be killed.’ No one protested; everyone seemed to agree. ”˜And that,’ says Riklin in an interview a few days later, ”˜proves my point. Everywhere I go, all over the country, I hear that kind of talk.’” Riklin, a 37-year-old settler who styles himself as head of a group he calls the “Next Generation” of Jewish settlers, says that removing settlers would be the beginning of the end of the Jewish state—and that many Jews in the West Bank will not permit it. “Barak will be murdered if he attempts to evacuate settlements,” Riklin said. “This is an invitation for big violence.” Kedumim Rabbi Daniel Shilo, a signator of the January 1995 letter to fellow rabbis asking whether Yitzhak Rabin should be considered a moser, is now aiming his verbal assaults at Barak. He recently wrote in his settlement’s newsletter that “to turn over (moser) parts of the Land of Israel to gentiles when they can be defended and the handover prevented is a serious crime against the Jewish people. Even the most wicked of the Jewish rulers of the land throughout the ages did not do so of their own free will. It is a betrayal, not only of the Jewish Torah tradition through the ages, but also of our national tradition .
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 03:00:16 +0000
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