What do the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-Orthodox religious-right have in common?
Israelis complain about the Muslim Brotherhood, but fail to take on rabbis whose rhetoric is no less incendiary.
By Anshel PfefferA few months from now, Egypt may come under the rule of a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose supreme spiritual leader said just a few years ago that God would "destroy the seed of the Jews and extirpate them from the world. These Jews are accursed scoundrels, crying crocodile tears while they murder people; it is forbidden to have any mercy on them. We have to destroy them with great missiles."
And if you think this is populist scare-mongering, and that this represents only one benighted faction of the popular Egyptian movement, here is what the leader of a rival faction of the Brotherhood said about Israeli civilians: "There is nothing in Islamic law about consideration for innocents in time of war." And lest there be any mistake, his secretary explained that "there is no problem with killing Jewish civilians, because the entire population supports Israeli terror."
 |
Rabbi Dov Lior |
| Photo by: Archive / Tess Scheflan |
It's quite a nightmarish scenario just over the Negev border - except that it isn't happening in the land of the Nile, but right here in Zion. Substitute "Arab" for the words "Jewish" and "Israeli" and you have a representative sample of the teachings of rabbis Ovadia Yosef and Dov Lior, two men who hold sway over a significant number of Knesset members and cabinet ministers.
I know, juxtaposing words and taking whole sentences out of context is an old and dirty trick we journalists use. So how about this authentic quote regarding the majority of Israelis? "The Nazi hatred is enrooted in an entire generation of young people ... If they were not busy fighting the Arabs, they would kill our children like Pharaoh and Hitler."
No need to play games with words here: These are actual utterances by Rabbi Israel Eichler, sworn in this week as a member of Knesset and immediately appointed chairman of the United Torah Judaism faction - which, if you have not forgotten, is a coalition member and controls the Health Ministry.
How can one compare the ideological parent of Hamas with Israeli Orthodox Jewish political parties? Indeed how? We have no way of knowing how the Muslim Brotherhood will perform if and when it is part of a ruling coalition in Egypt in the future. At least with Shas, UTJ and the various parliamentary offshoots of the religious ultra-right wing, we have an established track record to examine.
When did any of these parties come up with a new law that did not limit Israel's fragile liberal democracy? What legislation did they propose that did not involve coercion and curtailment of our freedom of choice? How have their leaders tried to turn back the growing tide of racism and intolerance in Israeli society? You know the answers to these questions.
Of course there is a world of difference between the Islamist and the Israeli ultra-Orthodox religious-right establishments, but they have one trait in common, and that is fundamentalism. They share a firm and unshakable belief that in every instance, their religious code is supreme over all man-made legal systems, especially democracy. In other words, sharia or halakha trumps every other consideration.
Actually, that's not entirely fair to the Muslim Brotherhood, which in recent days has made it clear that while it still believes "Islam is the solution," it is perfectly willing to abide by the democratic decisions of the Egyptian electorate in a fair and open election. Indeed, the Brotherhood was very wary at first even of challenging the Mubarak regime, which ruthlessly repressed it in the past.
Compare that with this week's conduct by the chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Dov Lior, who after six months of refusing to come in and be questioned by the police on the rabbinical endorsement he wrote for the book "Torat Hamelech," which permits the killing of enemy civilians in time of war, was finally issued with an arrest warrant. But he still did not relent, declaring, "it is impossible that in the State of Israel, a petty official in the Justice Ministry should tell rabbis what to say."
Religious fundamentalists are certainly in the ascendancy here in Israel, and if demographic trends are anything to go by, they will become yet more powerful in the future. But as inflammatory as their statements are, a police investigation is not the way to counter their influence. It will only confer martyr status on them and do nothing to encourage their followers to adopt a more democratic stance.
These rabbis are the enemies of democracy, and we shouldn't hand them the achievement of an erosion of a basic democratic right. The laws against incitement should be used as sparingly as possible, only in cases when there is a clear and direct call for violence.
If the state should be using its power in any way, then it should be firing rabbis like Lior from official positions. They, of course, should be free to say whatever they like, but the scandal of rabbis spouting off the most obnoxious views at the taxpayer's expense has been going on for much too long.
Not all rabbis are of the same view, and a small minority is even willing to speak out. This week, I saw Rabbi Yuval Cherlow say bravely that in the interests of national unity, when a democratically elected government's policies clash with the values of Judaism, there is no choice but to bow down before the will of the commonwealth. But the other rabbis, those who refuse to respect democracy and the rule of law, must be confronted first of all in the ideological arena, using all the many tools that a free and open society allows us.
Make no mistake, the Muslim Brotherhood's aims are abhorrent and dangerous. But it is the duty of Egyptian democracy supporters to fight them. Our job is to deal with our own religious fundamentalists and their despicable views.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
There is no comparison sure we got some rabbis who have some extreme views but unlike the Muslim Brotherhood they do not believe in jihad. The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to put on a respectable face right now but in power thats another matter. Hamas are an offshoot of the MB, some senior Al Quaida members are members of the MB and many of the ideologies of the MB are the same as groups like Al Quaida. When was the last time you heard a rabbi saying we love death as much as our enemies live life? This attempt to create a comparison between rabbis and the Muslim Brotherhood sound like lovers of peace and democracy.
"The Nazi hatred is enrooted in an entire generation of young people ... If they were not busy fighting the Arabs, they would kill our children like Pharaoh and Hitler"......Sorry, Anshel, but if you can think of anything in the history of western civilization that refutes what this rabbi said, I'd like to hear it. If history hasn't taught you that Europeans have a murderous hate of Jews, than you are simply delusional.
I do not understand how a rabbi can say that killing civilians is ok during war. Killing civilians is murder, and I believe that anyone condoning murder should not be allowed to call themselves a rabbi. This means that they are not enlightened, and are so full of hatred that they are not qualified to advise anyone. I thought this was a great article and I hope and pray that we can stop the extremists on all sides.
When was the last time you saw an ULTRA-ULTRA-Orthodox extremist, reactionary, demon only to the amoral Left, strap bombs on their chest and kill innocents? No matter how high the rhetoric. How anyone can draw any relationship between the two, is typical of the forced logic that the 'desperate for anarchy' Left engages in. This article is Leftist constricted consciousness, in all its deranged glory.
To compare enemies of the jews and the western world to the guardians of our sacred heritage!
In a democratic state, clergymen should be elected by their constituents and not appointed by the state. Moreover, they should become employees of their communities and paid by them. Their freedom of speech therefore would not be compromised and be limited to the sufferance of their constituents. Perhaps then, discretion will become the better part of wisdom.This would also limit the influence of the political parties upon the rabbinate.
and is not by chance.Is the look of the past,black-fear anti life style.Not the class of people one will like to belong.Baruch Hashem
Pfeffer displays not only his wild hostility towards religious beliefs and moral systems but also his remarkable ignorance of Jewish law and philosophy. His comparisons are as invalid as apples and... elephants. In those rare situations where Jewish and civil law conflict, Jewish law holds that it must prevail. Not surprisingly, civil law claims that IT must prevail. (That's why it's called a "conflict"...) In a secularist Israel where govt policies have a long history going back to Ben Gurion of trying to annihilate religion so as to create a "new Jew" free from the traditions of the past, religion has learned to be defensive. The best defense is a good offense. Perhaps it's about time that the Rabbis started summoning the various anti-religious political, academic and cultural figures to "investigate" their incompetent or just plain anti-Jewishness instead of the Israeli Thought Police investigating innocent Rabbis. It's about time.
Dear Anshel Pfeffer,thanks for your great article.Courageous and true.Fundamentalism is the same for all religions.From X,x Clan to Mea Sharim.They have the same terrifying god.They act from fear not from Love
In israel the Rabies still do not rule, and their influence is weaker. but in many Arab countries the mulas have much more power over the street. Count the number of suicide bombers that come from either side as proof that this is true
I was in an ultra-orthodox shul when the Lebanon War broke out in 1982. The leading hassidic rabbi, the Kloisenberg Rebbe, called for the ultra-orthodox to donate money to Israel to buy blood for the soldiers. Everyone in the shul --100 Satmars!!! -- pledged $100 on the spot. That is the difference between Hamas and Hassid.
The best way to avoid being called old cannards is to not practice old cannards...if the shoe fits...
It is so sad to see that people want to kill each other just becuase they believe different, the killing of innocent in any situation is not acceptable by God does'nt matter what religeon you belong to, and people want to commit these crimes in the name of God.
Man is perfect now? If man is give all, end all, where does morality begin and end? Man is now god? god is now man? What happens if another man sets his morals lower then mine? If man is supreme why have any morals? Shall I now bow to the awesomeness of man? Do I now put all of my trust into man? All my hope and all of my wishes? Oh! Perfect Man where do we begin? Mirror mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all?
the israeli extrimists, who today run israel, are far worse than whatever hamas or the muslim brotherhood are accused of.... and whose to blame for the rise of the israeli extremist?...no one but uncle sam.... and this uncle will now pay the price
When the Extremist Rabbis start throwing their own people off the rooftops and sticking AK47's into the hands of their diminutive children then you will have made a point. Until then...please...
What do they have in common? Both are anti-God.
How about all those IDF soldiers who follow these rabbis' teachings?
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef declared firmly that Democracy is not a Jewish value. And Jewish values can be ignored or interpreted away at will, e.g. Deuteronomy 20:19 "When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?" Couldn't be clearer and yet there went thousands and thousands of West Bank olive trees.
organized religion has been, is, and will be always the cause of most of the trouble in this world.
Both left-wing and right-wing, our fundamentalists are on the outskirts of society, and have been there since the establishment of the state, really.
Ooops! It seems that Israel and America are fighting it out for most civilians killed over the past few year. Let's see where the Muslim Brother hood rates. Hmmm, there's no record of them having killed anyone in that time rame. This tells us something very important. (1) Action speaks louder than words (2) Don't believe anyone when they tell you how good their side is and how bad the other side is.
a war is different from terrorism. YES, i know some will disagree, but on a realistic level it is different. wars typically have a target, IE al qaeda in iraq or the taliban in afghanistan or hamas in gaza--i don't agree with any of those wars, but those were their intents. terrorism has no intent other than killing innocent people. there is no targeted group aside from whoever happens to be at the market/building/temple that day.
"Hmmm, there's no record of them having killed anyone in that time rame." I believe you will find that - try as they might - the Egyptian regime has been singularly unsuccessful in pinning One Single Conviction For Terrorism upon the Muslim Brotherhood.
Actually the Sri Lanka is first, US is second, Pakistan is third, a number of African Countries are 4th through whatever and Israel comes after.
Let's go by your logic (which I think is faulty) and examine history as a whole: there was the genocide of Armenians by the Muslim Turks, the genocide of Kurds by Hussein, the Arab complicity in the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing of Cyprus by Turkey (again), mass expulsion of all Jews from Arab lands, countless terror attacks around the world from Buenos Aires to Bali to NYC to London, the ongoing genocide in Darfur by Arabs....oh this is a daunting task.
Good advice Natalie, you're now telling us not to believe anything you say. OK if you insist.