Rabbi advocates killing Arabs and destroying their holy sites

A recent study suggested that the number of hate groups in America is growing rapidly — jumping 50 percent since 2000. In just the past year, more than three dozen groups have joined the list.

The number of hate groups in North Carolina has varied year by year, but since 2003 the state has ranked anywhere from sixth to 11th in the country, with between 28 and 37 active groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The report listed three main reasons for the steady increase in hate groups: the immigration debate, the economic recession, and President Barack Obama’s successful campaign.


A St. Paul rabbi faced a flurry of criticism this week after an independent Jewish magazine quoted him as saying he advocated killing Arabs and destroying their holy sites.

Rabbi Manis Friedman, of the Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies in St. Paul, said "the only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle)."

His response was part of an article titled "How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?" in Moment, a Washington D.C.-based magazine that's part of the Center for Creative Change.

Friedman issued a statement Wednesday, saying his comments, as published, were "misleading."

He said the question was responding to in the article was: "How should we act in time of war, when our neighbors attack us, using their women, children and religious holy places as shields."

Friedman said he was trying to address some of the ethical issues related to forcing the military to withhold fire from certain people and places, "when one's own family and nation is mercilessly targeted from those very people and places!"

Friedman's statement was one of several from rabbis around the country printed in Moment, which bills itself as a magazine of Jewish politics, culture and religion. The rabbis each represented a different denomination. Chabad-Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. Friedman was listed as rabbi of the Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies, a girls school in St. Paul.

The other rabbis all advocated finding a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Friedman's statement opens with: "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."

Militant Rabbi urged Israeli troops to slaughter Gentiles

The Israeli army's chief rabbinate gave soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip a booklet implying that all Palestinians are their mortal enemies and advising them that cruelty is sometimes a "good attribute".

The booklet, entitled Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study Table for the Soldier and Commander in a Time of War, was published especially for Operation Cast Lead, the devastating three-week campaign launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire against southern Israel. The publication draws on the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Jewish fundamentalist Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem.

In one section, Rabbi Aviner compares Palestinians to the Philistines, a people depicted in the Bible as a war-like menace and existential threat to Israel.

In another, the army rabbinate appears to be encouraging soldiers to disregard the international laws of war aimed at protecting civilians, according to Breaking the Silence, the group of Israeli ex-soldiers who disclosed its existence. The booklet cites the renowned medieval Jewish sage Maimonides as saying that "one must not be enticed by the folly of the Gentiles who have mercy for the cruel".

Breaking the Silence is calling for the firing of the chief military rabbi, Brigadier-General Avi Ronzki, over the booklet. The army had no comment on the matter yesterday.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the executive director of the Rabbis for Human Rights group, called the booklet "very worrisome", adding "[this is] a minority position in Judaism that doesn't understand the ... necessity of distinguishing between combatants and civilians."

From AFP, there are more quotes in the pamphlet:

"When you show mercy to a cruel enemy you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers," Yesh Din quoted the pamphlet as saying.

It said the pamphlet quotes at length statements by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a spiritual leader of the Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank who opposes any compromise with Palestinians.

"The Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country," the pamphlet quoted Aviner as saying.

It said one urged soldiers to "spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us..."

"Kill the one who comes to kill you. As for the population, it is not innocent," the daily quoted the pamphlet as saying.

Do I need to remind people about ethics of war in Islam? If I do then see Islam Online here.