Kill men, women and children!

In the 'Ask the Rabbis' section of the May/June 2009 issue of Moment Magazine, this question was put to the Rabbis.

'How should Israel treat its Arab neighbours?'

The American Rabbi, Manis Friedman, responded thus:

"I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral. The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way. Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention."

Nice guy, huh? 'Zero tolerance for stone throwing?' So 'kill men, women and children' who throw stones? Well, it's happened before often enough so one shouldn't be surprised, I guess.

As it happens, the opinions of other eight contributing Rabbis were much more moderate. Nevertheless the outlook of this Hasidic (Chabad-Lubavitch] Rabbi is far from unusual.

Hands up if you think anyone pointing out a Rabbi's murderous attitude is anti-Semitic?

So, you'd rather continue with the PC fantasy that says the religious Jew is a much put-upon little cringer who never did any harm to anyone?

You would?

Seek help.