Carpet Bombing:divine command:Rabbi

Zulkiflim SG

Salaam,

pls read the below article..

All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.

The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.

According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals. In Gaza, the entire populace is responsible because they do nothing to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.

The former chief rabbi also said it was forbidden to risk the lives of Jews in Sderot or the lives of IDF soldiers for fear of injuring or killing Palestinian noncombatants living in Gaza.

Eliyahu could not be reached for an interview. However, Eliyahu's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, who is chief rabbi of Safed, said his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers. Rather, he advocated carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.

"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."

Eliyahu wrote that "This is a message to all leaders of the Jewish people not to be compassionate with those who shoot [rockets] at civilians in their houses."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527966693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Interesting but ultimately unremarkable.

There are extremists in all camps, what makes you think the Israelis are any different?

the Bear SG

what is scary is that someone here is trying to stir up anger by taking the extremist version as the 'way everyone feels' in israel...

see the TS for what he is.. a shit stirrer

dakkon_blackblade SG

I don't see anything in the post that indicates that the TS is trying to represent the "extremist" view as the "way everyone feels" in Israel.

the Bear SG

what are the red bits?

know that these days, people do not read the whole thing and figure out the meaning.. they read what is highlighted to them and then think that is the whole thing...

think again.. what was the point of this topic?

dakkon_blackblade SG

The red bits are the rabbi's own comments. It is not said anywhere in the article that they are representative of the views of the majority or entirety of the Israeli population.

They are highlighted, yes, and I agree with you that this may be misleading to the casual reader. However, you and I may interpret the motive behind the highlighting and the posting differently. You might choose to impute against him certain unsavoury motives behind this posting, but I assure you that I find no surface evidence to reach such as conclusion as you, and hence I give the TS the benefit of the doubt.

The point of this topic, as I take it, is to show that there are extremist elements within the Israeli camp, just as there are extremist elements on the Palestinian side.

Well, I hope I have made my point clear, and that you will respect my views as much as I have respected yours, so that we can have an amicable and reasonable discussion on this topic, instead of degenerating into another flaming war.

googoomuck SG

Sderot's mayor, Eli Moyal, demanded that the government send the army to reoccupy or destroy the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the area from which many Palestinian rockets are fired, if Sderot was to survive. "You have to choose," he told officials in the prime minister's office. "If you do not destroy Beit Hanoun, Sderot will become a ghost town. The people of this city cannot sustain any more Qassam attacks."

If someone attacks you do you say to yourself, I will only throw two punches. If that doesnt work I hope my hospital stay is a short one.

What would be YOUR response to two incoming Qassams to YOUR home
such as these? Consider yourself lucky? The Qassams have no specific address! You must be lucky if one of them lands in your home.

Atobe SG

It is sad, but what else can civlized people do to defend themselves against those who intentionally use violence to resolve issues ?

Live by the Sword, then die by the Sword.

The Japanese swept through China and Southeast Asia, and in the process killed millions of innocent civilians.

The Japanese - as a nation - was prepared to die for their Emperor, and many did while defending their last holdouts against the US led counter-invasion across the Pacific.

Many more US soldiers would have died, but for the fact that two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and leaving many in a limbo of lingering death over the next few decades.

It ended the Second World War, when Japan sued for Peace.

Israel's re-emergence as a Nation was made possible by the Western Powers - by giving land to the Jews returning to the Biblical Land of their ancestors, but at the expense of those Arabs living in the land for generations, who were forced to evacuate and make space for the Jews.

During the early days when Israel was being formed, the Jews were also using terrorist tactics against the British Colonial Office that were administering the Middle-east that included Jordan, Iraq, and much of what Israel is today.

Today, Israel is suffering the retribution of terrorist attacks, as the Palestinian Arabs have learnt the Israeli ways from the history of their early nationhood.

If the Palestinian Arabs prefer to use violence, then they had better prepare themselves for the violent consequences of their actions.

Fingolfin_Noldor SG

There is however, the untold story that some Arabs actually sided with Nazi Germany during WWII and abetted with the Nazis. I suspect many of these people passed on their ideas long ago to others and there you have all this bigotry on both sides of the equation.

Arapahoe SG

when a conflict get this long and there is no clear winners. it is pointless to fingers as both side have experience terrible losses. It is left with political will for both side to cease the fight.

qpicanto SG

The reality is the Israelis govt not giving up the occupied land anytime soon and the war will be ongoing for a long long time. USA has been 'dragged in' into this extended war. When countries started to take sides, Singapore look like already 'dragged in' to this extended war would be stuck in the middle. Crying or Very sad