Thursday, July 06, 2017

They Are Rabbis, Yes?

From a description of a tour of American Rabbis, via T'ruah, in Hebron:

Hebron is the only Palestinian city in the West Bank that has an Israeli settlement located within it. A total of about 850 Israelis (including about 200 yeshiva students, who are not full-time residents) live here among 200,000 Palestinians – among them, some of the most radical and violent settlers to have emerged during a half-century of occupation. To make sure that the city's tiny Jewish population is protected, hundreds of Israeli soldiers patrol the streets here. But even this very conspicuous military presence is not enough, as the rabbis on the tour soon learn. To avoid friction between the two hostile populations, Israel has imposed heavy restrictions on the movement of Palestinian residents in what used to be bustling downtown Hebron.


I hope those Rabbis know that that is the situation the Palestinian Authority agreed to.

And that Hebron has possessed a Jewish population for many centuries - except when Arabs killed them and raped them and kicked them out, temporarily, of course.

And that Hebron was where David's monarchy began, a political entity that predated an Arab institution of any type of rule by, er, centuries.

And that Hebron is the home of the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

And that the Bible made an extra effort to note it was purchased, not conquered, stolen, or otherwise illegally occupied.

They are Rabbis, yes?

Oh, and that "to avoid friction" bit?  Did the writer intend to convey a disguised neutered description of Arab/Islamic terror? Sniping at infants? Throwing hand grenades at and splaying with machine-gun fire worshipers singing and dancing returning from Friday night prayers? Stabbings by Arab females?

^

1 comment:

NormanF said...

Now rabbis display neutrality, as though it pains them to take a side.

Why be Jewish? Why be a rabbi if you can't side unequivocally with the people of Israel?

I confess on reading it, I was floored. You wonder what country they're describing - it doesn't sound like Israel.

What can be said is their Hebron Tour didn't enlighten them.