With an Ah-Ha-Ha
And an Oh-Ho-Ho
And a couple of La-Dee-Das
That’s how we laugh the day away
In the merry old land of Judea.
If I didn’t know better I might say that this high-hatted image of one of Israel’s leading racist settler rabbis was that of one of the Munchkins from the Land of Oz. But alas, if that were the case and he’d plied his trade in Hollywood instead of the settlements, there might be more Israelis and Palestinians alive today. Here is what Nahum Barnea had to say about Rabbi Dov Lior’s arrest for supporting the publication of a book, Torat Ha-Melech (‘Teachings of a the King’), that incited the murder of Palestinian children with the assumption that they would grow up to murder Jews:
Rabbi Dov Lior should have been interrogated in connection with affairs that are much graver than the praise he lavished on a book of incitement based on Jewish Law verses: Acts carried out by the Jewish terror underground; the Rabin murder; the Goldstein massacre – all these crimes, and others, came from a milieu where Rabbi Lior was, and still is, the spiritual authority.
After the abovementioned crimes were committed, the Shin Bet was eager to know whether rabbi Lior endorsed these acts, knew about them in advance, and who else knew, if at all. Yet on the political orders of prime ministers, Lior was left alone, as were other radical rabbis…
Keep in mind that the State pays this man’s salary, making him a State employee whose salary is paid by the citizens of that State, roughly 80% of whom are NOT setters and do not support his vicious racism. This is part of the problem with the contemporary Israeli state. It is simply powerless to respond to the provocations of figures like Lior. There is neither the will nor the power to hold him accountable for anything he does or says. Religion, or at least the noxious version of it peddled by the likes of this moral Munchkin, holds the State hostage. And that’s the tragedy of Israel today.
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The point of him being an employee of the state is irrelevant. It’s the exact same lingo used by right wing fascist to call for the mouth-shutting of left wing speakers which are state funded. It’s infuriating, but that’s still a part of democracy. Funding has nothing to do with what he says. His role is that of a state funded function and that’s just the reality.
If he broke the law (which he obviously did) he needs to be persecuted and thrown in jail. When there, he’ll still be living off our tax money but at least it will pay for him being behind bars.
Israel’s government chooses to continue employing him. In the position of authority – religious authority.
That counts as an endorsement.
The Rabbi’s views are within the normal range of the animal homo sapiens – violence and murder is in our DNA and some homo sapiens (like this Rabbi) put their intelligence and education to the service of their animal instincts, instead of the ideas of the Enlightenment.
What is shocking is that Israel continues to employ him (and others like him), an act which utterly discounts for impressionable Israeli nationalists, Israel’s pro forma words of disapproval. We all know what governments say is garbage (for lack of a better word), what they do is what deserves all our attention.
EXCEPTION
violence and murder is in our DNA – they may be in YOURS, I KNOW THEY ARE NOT IN MINE.
spare me from YOUR group
yikes
I’m sorry to say that the human species does have imprinted in its DNA the capacity for mass killing & tremendous violence. But we hope that civilization represses some of our worst impulses.
As they are currently behaving, both the state and the society, Israel and its citizens have ZERO knowledge of what civilization is all about.
The most vile and repugnant of characters are demonstrated by its leaders and followers.
greed, warmongering and moral turpitude are but the nicest of attributes exhibited by just about EVERYONE IN ISRAEL
Nessim Dayan says: “greed, warmongering and moral turpitude are but the nicest of attributes exhibited by just about EVERYONE IN ISRAEL”
I take it you mean both Arabs and Jews?
I take it you mean [Israeli] PALESTINIANS and Jews.
Rubbish !
Violence is not innate. I can prove my assertion. Happy to sit down with all and sundry and present my evidence. This will be in the form of witnesses, life history, chronology, books etc. to back up my claim. I can also prove that the universe is stable, ordered, benevolent and expansive.
As for Rabbi Dov Lior, he is wrong regarding the bleief that a child is born with either a superior Jewish or infereior Goy sould. I have given him and his ilk the benefit of the doubt over the years, but now it is all becoming crystal clear. Certain rabbis and sages in the Jewish community have based their political philosophy and worldview on completely incorrect views of the human condition, the universe and the Tanach. Such rotten foundations invariably lead to systemic collapse. Charm, fear and manipulation of their followers will only get them so far.
And that EXACTLY the problem with Israel.
We have a two tier country whereas one works it butt off and the other laughs all the way to the bank while giving the finger to the other half.
If an arab where to say death to the jews, we all know what ensues.
Whereas “these” leaders(?) constantly repeat the same words with the only a different voice pronunciation their words are holier than the Bible that they re-write every week-end.
Israel will fold just as South Africa while the Bibi’s and cohorts will run for the Tahiti’s shores
Israel has unfolded as a totally racist, violent, warmongering society, any difference from pre-war Germany – yes the half of the society that lumbers under the yoke of the dozens or so barons that keep oiling the government pockets while milking the paying half (the other half gets the cottage at 2.20 while the rest pays 5.90 if not more)
it simply reeks