For years, I struggled with the evil deeds committed by Israeli settlers and their supporters, who act in the name of Judaism. How could I as a Jew have anything to do with them? How can we share the same religion? How does it implicate me in their chilul ha’shem if I do share a religion with them? I was, and am uncomfortable with merely denouncing their acts and saying “not in my name.” Saying they don’t represent Judaism is not enough; because for a significant number of Israeli, and some Diaspora Jews, they do represent Judaism.
I determined that I cannot call them Jews. They violate every precept of Judaism I know. They are murderous, racist, genocidal thieves. They have made their bed with white Christo-supremacists and even neo-Nazis. They have made a travesty of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust by co-opting it as a defense for mass murder.
In short, these are not Jews. They are pagan idolaters. Worshippers of stones and bones. That is, the stones of the ancient Temple, which they seek to rebuild after destroying the Al Aqsa mosque, third holiest site in Islam; and the ancient lands of the Israelites, long since settled for centuries by Palestinian Arabs and a small remnant of indigenous Jews, now coveted by these false Jews. They worship the bones of these Israelite ancestors fetishized in places like Joseph’s Tomb and the Ibrahimi mosque.
Jews do not worship physical space or even territory for its own sake. They do not believe if they steal every inch of ancient Judea and make it theirs (whatever that means), that this will bring the messiah. Similarly, Jews do not worship human beings. They worship ideas and values as espoused by the Biblical prophets: justice, mercy, righteousness, freedom. And the religious among us worship the divine that is in all of them. This doesn’t remotely represent what settlers are.
No claim from an ancient book–written who knows when, where and by whom–gives a Jew, two thousand years later, the right to usurp, ethnically cleanse, and mass murder another people who has lived in this land for generations. A book is not a property deed. A claim of divine sovereignty is not a deed of sale. You can’t steal someone’s property with the claim that God approved your theft. There is no halachic edit that says: “Thou shalt not steal…unless God says it’s OK.”
Just as the Bible railed against pagan temples and rites co-existing amidst or alongside Israelite religion, so these Judeo-pagans have taken up residence among us. But we must extirpate them from our religion just as the Bible demanded the expulsion of the ancient pagans.
There is precedent for what I advocate. In the past, when a Jewish movement endangered the existence of the larger Jewish community, rabbinic authorities excommunicated it and its followers. Jews were no longer permitted to associate with them. They were ostracized from all communal institutions. That was the fate of the messianic Sabbateans, followers of Shabtai Tzvi, who converted to Islam and became a member of the Ottoman caliph’s household. Similarly, the followers of Jacob Frank, known as Frankists, declared that their leader was the messiah, come to redeem the Jews. He went so far that he went in the opposite direction and converted to Christianity. The leaders of the Jewish community determined that this too posed a threat to its coherence and existence. So they too were excommunicated.
Obviously, most of us no longer live in communities which adhere to halacha. A rabbinic edit does not carry the weight of the days of Shabbtai Tzvi and Jacob Frank. But rabbis and communal leaders lead by example. They set a moral standard. They define ethics for us.
When the community and its leaders refuse to clearly define what is acceptable and what is not, then the world will come to think of this horrific theology-ideology as the proper standard of Judaism. If terrorists attack Jews, thinking erroneously that all Jews believe what these monsters believe, why are they wrong? Of course, they are objectively, because we know that we are not them. But why should any terrorist understand this distinction when we don’t make it clearly?
We will have only ourselves to blame for this. We could take a stand. We could label them apikorsim (heretics). We could separate ourselves from them and say they are not us. They are not Jews. They defile our religion and we will not permit this.
If you are a rabbi, do something. Say something. If you belong to a synagogue ask your rabbi to denounce this explicitly and publicly in a High Holiday sermon, preferably. Rabbis should tell congregants they must not visit settlements. Their Israel missions must not, either. No meet-and-greets with settlers. Put them in cherem. If you belong to a Jewish communal group, urge action. Not just words, but actions.
The Judeo-genocidaires among us
A Haaretz news report inspired this post. Among the miscreants and lunatics inhabiting the Knesset is one Limor Son Har-Melech, a true “woman of valor” in Israel. She is a member of the genocidal Jewish Power party. A settler crony of her chief of staff posted a series of messages in a journalists’ WhatsApp group. They included:
“Of course it’s allowed to wipe out Hawara. It’s a village full of terrorists who support terrorism and march with joy after attacks.”
Ben Shahar charges that the Palestinian residents of the West Bank town of Hawara “incite [terrorism] in mosques on Friday, and in their schools they raise [children] to be martyrs” adding that “All the houses in the village should be destroyed. It’s allowed, it’s ethical, it’s legitimate… That’s how the work’s done.”
Muslim houses of worship too were hotbeds of “hatred” which must be eliminated:
Ben Shahar also justifies the destruction of the holy places in the Palestinian town, such as mosques and prayer venues. “A mosque isn’t a holy place if its teachings are to kill Jews,” explains Ben Shahar. “We need to go through all the mosques in Israel quickly before Ramadan and shut down every single one that incites terrorism and the murder of Jews.”
Of course, there are no Palestinian mosques which teach killing Jews. But all of the settler yeshivot teach the tenets of genocide. They are the hotbeds of hate. And they should be extirpated.
Ben Shahar emphasized that “Every street, every alley, every village and every neighborhood that decides to be an enemy of the people of Israel will bear the consequences and [then] there’ll be silence.”
Of course, there will not be silence if Israel ever tried this strategy. Not only would Palestinians mount armed resistance, but their allies in the Muslim world would also join in the fight. And if anyone argues that the Abraham Accords have destroyed any bonds of solidarity with the Palestinian people, you wait till these Judeo-thugs begin this genocidal campaign. It will unite the Muslim-Arab as they have not been united for decades, if ever.
Then these genociders will have a true war of Gog and Magog between Jews and Muslims. A final battle to the death. One which none can win because all will be destroyed. It will mean the weaponization of religion leading to the death of humanity in the Middle East, if not the entire planet.
The WhatsApp messages above are more than words of incitement. They are words leading directly to deeds. Rwanda’s state radio station broadcast such blood-curdling incitement in the months leading up to the genocidal slaughter of 800,000 Tutsi. It happened there. It can happen here. It can and will happen in Israel. Unless we do something decisive as Jews to stop it.
About 8 or 9 years ago somebody told me that I am not a Jew because I oppose Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians and our government’s UNCONDITIONAL support for Israel. A married couple in my congregation who supported my view along with myself criticized him for his remarks. Unfortunately this couple are now deceased. One does not have to support Israel to be a Jew. Jews existed for hundreds of years when there was no Israel. One does not have to be able to read the Torah in Hebrew to be a Jew, as some Jews claim. What is important as a Jew is to stand up against oppression and for Tikkun Olam which means to make the world better. Caring for the homeless and the poor, being for health care for everybody is in the Jewish tradition. Actually during the early 20th Century there were some Zionists that advocated that Palestine be a place where Jews could settle and share the land with the indigenous people there, that included Jews and non-Jews. Unfortunately they were overruled by the other Zionists.
“In short, these are not Jews. They are pagan idolaters. Worshippers of stones and bones. ”
Rubbish.
Jews bemoan the destruction of their Holy Temple and pray for the Mosiach to come and rebuild it.
As far as the Cave of the Machpelah, which you oddly refer to as the Ibrahimi mosque, archeological evidence shows us that most likely the cave was a pilgrimage site during First Temple times!
Jews have visited and worshipped at the tomb of Abraham since time immemorial.
BTW, when muslims venerate the tomb are they bone worshiping?
Muslims venerate the Kaaba, in Mecca. Are they stone worshiping pagans as well?
“BTW, when muslims venerate the tomb are they bone worshiping?
Muslims venerate the Kaaba, in Mecca. Are they stone worshiping pagans as well?”
Maybe. They do it too, whether/if and some do or not, is besides the point. They are human. The point is that Jews are forbidden to worship idols… one of the supposed psychological breakthroughs in the evolution of human consciousness that Judaism brought us collectively. What does that mean? Christ, true Christianity, is not to be worshipped in this way either so the spirit/consciousness can rise,. Therefore one does not abdicate to worship itself. These “stone and bone worshippers” got stuck in that, derailed. But they are and will become representative of what Judaism is now if Jews in organized religion do not care enough to oppose them and their actions.
To Walter Ballin above- I too have been called not a Jew for other reasons as well. (an excommunication!). Then a “religious” cousin feeling my despair about that assumption/accusation/excommunication wisely said, “you can never leave your Judaism” ; no-one can or should tell you that you are not a Jew.
Thank you Potter. I neglected to mention that indeed it states in the Torah that Jews are not to worship idols. Israel is a piece of land, so worshiping Israel is worshiping an idol. Years ago I watched a segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes, in which they showed a Jewish settler originally from the U.S. literally kissing the ground in the occupied West Bank. Nuts, I say!
We had a short conversation (so many years ago) about with my cousin about what meant: that you can never not be Jewish ( because that is what you are) or/also that you can never really be considered as having left… and if so.. there was always the hope that you will return.( albeit to orthodoxy.) That was his Judaism. At the time I really felt embraced by at least one person in my family- and I made it in my mind to be representative tough it was not really. The family struggled with me, but they came around. It was about love and family above all which should be the wider/higher lesson. But regarding what Richard is talking about above, you cannot talk to these fanatic stubborn people about values.They are gone it seems and they must learn from all sorts of strong pushback— which they should get including and maybe especially formally. Otherwise organized Judaism and Israel gets swallowed by them, anti-Semitism is boosted and it reflects on all Jews.
“No claim from an ancient book–written who knows when, where and by whom–gives a Jew, two thousand years later, the right to usurp, ethnically cleanse, and mass murder another people who has lived in this land for generations”
Yet, there is a hadith that has Muhammed saying, “You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, O Muslim, there is a Jew, so kill him.”
Richard. Can you really say for sure that there is no religious component to Palestinian muslims opposition to Zionism? How would you know that?
@ Chad: You are off-topic. Do not post on subjects unless they are directly related to the post. This Islamophobic nonsense is not. Respect this in future comments.
I find it deeply disturbing that two purportedly separate commenters are quoting from the same hadith, in the same off topic fashion. Either you are the same person or each were given this hasbara “assignment,” along with the hadith to act as ammunition. Both you and “JUdy Cohen” should know that I am watching your comments very carefully. If I detect further comment fraud I will not hesitate to ban one or both of you.
First of all, not all Palestinians are Muslims. And ALL Palestinians, whether Muslim or Christian oppose Zionism (except for a few grifters bought off by the government or pro-Israel groups). So opposing Zionism has NOTHING to do with Islam. Unlike, by the way, the settlers who exploit religion in order to justify their genocidal goals against Palestinians.
How would I know that? Because unlike you, I actually know learned observant Muslims and have discussed these issues with them. In fact, you can find regular comments in my threads responding to concocted claims like yours from them.
So do tell us how YOU would know? tell us what learned tomes have you read about Islam in order to support your thesis? Primary sources? Secondary sources? Islam for Dummies?
[comment deleted: sorry, but a 2,000 word comment is too much for me to bear. Not to mention the Islamophobia. I have no patience for it. That’s 2 strikes. Next time, keep it short. Or at least shorter than this was.]
This Hadith predicting an apocalyptic battle based on theological teachings that on the eve of Judgment Day Muslims would annihilate Jews.
Rocks and trees will call out to Muslims and say, “O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.”
@ Judy Cohen: If you post a comment is MUST be directly related to the post. This post was about Israeli settlers and their deformation of Judaism. It was not about Muslim anti-Semitism. It was not about the Quran. It was not about hadiths. If that’s what your interest is you’ll do it somewhere else. I do not tolerate Islamophobia here.
Further, just as I do not believe a BIbilical book gives so-called [settler] Jews the right to steal Palestinian land, I don’t believe hadiths determine what Muslims today do or believe. If we Jews believed everything in the Torah we would be stoning men for “lying with” other men, and even for committing adultery.
The Islam section of Stack Exchange contains this discussion of the hadith:
In other words, this hadith has about as much effect on a modern Muslim as the ancient Midrash saying that the messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, has on a modern Jew.
אין נביא בעירו👏🏼👏🏼
Unfortunately Richard, the Sabbateans are the overwhelming majority.
They combine a bit of Shabbtai Zvi with Samson. Eventually, they will bring down the temple
“They are pagan idolaters. Worshippers of stones and bones.”
exactly
“Jewish”??? (Christian??? or Muslim???)
I gave up on religion long ago!
I view religion as a buffet – take what you want, interpret it the way way you like, and leave the rest
While the State of Israel has its official rabbis to define for the State – Who/What is “Jewish,” (Christian or Muslim) in the real world it is whatever you want it to be!
Regarding genocide, see Deuteronomy Chapter 7, specifically chapter 2, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/d-varim-deuteronomy-chapter-7
Richard, you and others may not see that as relevant in the modern world, but many others I’m sure, see it very relevant