Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is the head of religious schools in the illegal West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, close to the well-know Pally town of Nablus.

The Rabbi's opinions are interesting indeed. The Rabbi has blessed the rest of us with a new book "The King's Torah" where he shares those interesting opinions with the rest of us.  Based upon his reading of the Old Testament and his analysis of various passages found therein.

Let's get it directly from the equine's hindquarters, and quote generously from the Rabbi's thoughts, as spelled out in the media coverage:



"  Those who, by speech, weaken our sovereignty" – deserve to die, the book explains. "It is permissible... even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation."

According to Maariv, the book is a manifesto, "230 pages, no less, on the laws of the killing of gentiles, a guide to deciding whether and when it is permissible to take the life of non-Jews."

Shapira and his followers began selling the guide at Saturday's memorial in Jerusalem for Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Israeli Knesset member who urged the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the territories.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Shapira based the majority of his teachings on passages quoted from the Bible, to which he added his opinions and beliefs. Several prominent rabbis have recommended the book to their students and followers, the newspaper reported on Monday.

Shapira's book includes a chapter entitled, "Intentional Harm to Innocent People." The book explains it is permissible to kill civilians in other nations if the population "helps a murderer of Jews... Any case in which the life of the civilian endangers Israel - it is allowed to kill a gentile."

"The permit also applies when the persecutor is threatening to kill indirectly rather than directly," Shapira ruled. "If the civilian is aiding fighters it is permissible to kill. Anyone who helps the army and the wicked in any way strengthens pursuers."

He added, "Citizens [of the enemy nation] contribute to the war... So any citizen who supports the war or the fighters or expresses satisfaction with their deeds - the killing is permitted."

Even babies and children are fair targets, "if it is clear they will grow up to harm us," the rabbi wrote. "If hurting an evil leader's children will pressure him to stop acting maliciously - you can hurt them," the newspaper reported, quoting Shapira.



Well, I say this this is  all very interesting indeed.  The good Rabbi makes it clear [per the coverage in the maan link] that this is not in any way meant to refer to the ongoing Israel-Pally struggle, and that his musings, such as they are, are meant to be strictly a theoretical discussion.  Nor does the good Rabbi advocate that individuals take the law into their own hands with direct actions against the Pallys, or anyone else, as a result of reading the Rabbi.  No doubt Rabbi Shapira would be heartbroken if such an eventuality came to pass.  As for the other Rabbis who reportedly endorse Shapira's views and have recommended the Rabbi's book, well, it's all in the disinterested pursuit of truth and knowledge.

That's what I love the most about our erswhile allies in The Global War On Terror.  No matter how well and how completely these are able to game the American political system and to cow our elected and appointed political leadership into thrall-like submission, one of these Likudist settler bottom feeders will always manage to say something offensive but painfully true and to shoot themselves briefly in the foot [when they can  tear themselves away from actually shooting Pallys in real life that is] and to cast doubt upon the sincerity of the entire Zionist enterprise.  But, they're just the tiniest speedbumps on the vast highway to a greater and ever-expanding Greater Israel.

So drunk with power and a world-engulfing sense of entitlement, Rabbi Shapira  and his ilk never for a moment stop to  think about how the rest of us might view such honeyed words.  I mean, the unwashed masses in the US who pay the taxes to support israel, who contribute the men and women to the US military which ultimately guarantees the survival of Israel, the poor slobs who generally play the thankless, if not totally unwanted, roles of cannon fodder and potential collateral damage, they simply don't count in the Rabbi's world.  Except as potential enemies who can be killed for the convience of Israel.  Theoretically only, of course.

Some additional coverage from Ha'areetz:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126890.html

-- Modified on 11/22/2009 10:36:57 AM