With each passing day extremists continue lashing out in the Middle East, doing their best to threaten the peace that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians continue hoping for. Today is no exception. Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made yet another inflammatory statement. Meanwhile, Hamas strategist Mahmoud Al-Zahar made inflammatory remarks of his own in an interview with Reuters and Hamas sent yet another threatening message to Israel. It once again underscores the importance of not letting the extremists win, and simultaneously the importance of the vast majority on both sides seeking peace pushing their leaders to do so.
Speaking at a Halacha (Jewish Law) lesson in his Jerusalem home, Rabbi Yosef stated that Halacha prohibits Jews selling their houses or land in the Land of Israel to non-Jews:
The rabbi cited the halacha as saying that the property should be sold to a Jewish buyer, even if he offers a lesser amount for it.
One unidentified student attending the lesson told YNet the following:
"The words were perceived by those who were present as normal discussion of the halacha, and not within a context of current events," said one student who did not want to be identified. He added that the rabbi spoke of a known and accepted law of the halacha, one that no one disputes. It should not be perceived as a reinforcement of a recent ban on selling property to Arabs declared by Safed rabbis, he said.
Following the declaration by Safed rabbis referenced by the unidentified student clashes broke out within the city:
"They yelled, 'Death to Arabs,' and the others yelled, 'Death to Jews.' Then the fight broke out," he said.
The police denied any connection between the fight and a proclamation signed earlier this week by Safed rabbis, which called on home-owners to avoid renting or selling apartments to Arab students, and to shun those who do.
The declarations by Rabbi Yosef and the Safed rabbis are unacceptable. It is antithetical to Jewish values to say that someone will not rent or sell to another person solely on account of their religion. Equally despicable are the statements made by the yeshiva students, because even completely ignoring how disgusting such a statement taken in isolation is, those students are well aware of the 2,000 years of Jewish history during the Diaspora. There is no reason to make such statements. There is no reason to engage in such violence. It is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Hamas strategist Mahmoud Al-Zahar, attacked not only Israel, but the entire West in an interview with Reuters:
"You do not live like human beings. You do not [even] live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?" he said earlier this week, speaking from his apartment building in the densely populated, Mediterranean city.
It would not surprise me if Al-Zahar is either unaware or intentionally ignorant of the fact that homosexuality is not unique to humans, but actually occurs in many species throughout the animal kingdom. I therefore have no doubt he would find common cause with those who supported Proposition 8 in California and organizations such as the National Organization for marriage that seek to continue writing discrimination against LGBT citizens into law. As a liberal believing in equality, and someone who already enjoys the right to marry because I am straight, I strongly believe in equal rights for my LGBT fellow citizens.
Regarding women, Al-Zahar goes on to say:
"We are the ones who respect women and honor women ... not you," he said.
"You use women as an animal. She has one husband and hundreds of thousands of boyfriends," he added. "You don't know who is the father of your sons because of the way you respect women."
Here, it seems like Al-Zahar does not understand the West. I do not know what precipitated this particular statement. He seems not to understand that in the West we have freedom, and women are free to make their own decisions, just as men are free to make their own decisions. These include very personal decisions such as whom to marry, whether or not to even get married, whom to engage in sexual relations with, and how to dress. Western women serve at all levels of government, including at the highest levels in cabinets, leading legislative houses, and heading governments.
The statements from Al-Zahar regarding the West come as he also threatened Israel and the Palestinian Authority:
"You will pay a high price for entering Gaza", al-Zahar said. "Israelis should think twice before making that decision."
Later he made it clear to his opponents in the Fatah and the Palestinian Authority that "signing an appeasement agreement between Palestinian factions would not mean that the Strip would once again be run by the Palestinian Authority."
Thankfully, in a small sign of hope, Ha'aretz reports broad support for Mahmoud Abbas among Palestinian youth:
If elections were held today, nearly 40 percent of young Palestinians would vote for the secular-leaning Fatah, compared with under 10 percent for its rival Hamas, a radical Islamist movement.
It seems that at the very least, Palestinian youth are going through a process similar to what the American People were going through four-to-five years ago while George W. Bush was nearing the mid-way point in his second term, many Americans, including many that voted to give him that second term in office, were asking what we were thinking when we gave him those four additional years. Of course, those of us that supported John Kerry were asking that from immediately after the 2004 election.
In closing, I once again reiterate something I have always said. It is the extremists on both sides that are the greatest threats to peace. Despite their nominally differing theologies and ideologies, they are closer to each other than the mainstreams of both their populations that simply seek to live side-by-side, in two states for two peoples, and at peace. That is because they each have a stake in preventing that peace from occurring because they each support a one-state solution with their side emerging on top.
Peace may seem like a far-off dream at the current moment, however that is not cause to give up. Begin and Sadat made peace between Israel and Egypt. Rabin and King Hussein made peace between Israel and Jordan. One day an Israeli leader and a Palestinian leader will make peace and make this conflict a story for historians, and not reporters, to tell. The first two were once thought impossible, and yet they came to pass. The same one day shall also be said of the third.
Cross-posted at Daily Kos
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