Human Rights Rebbe Stands Trial
Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the tzaddik behind Rabbis for Human Rights, is standing trial in Israel for defending Palestinian homes from being bulldozed.
Ascherman says that Israel’s demolition policy contravenes [biblical commandments favoring human rights] and he hopes to use his trial to put government actions in the public spotlight. “Not everything that is legal is just and that is the whole point of civil disobedience,” Ascherman says. “The demolition policy tramples on the torah, which is my duty as a rabbi to uphold.”
Over 400 rabbis have come out to support Ascherman including Phyllis Berman, Rachel Cowan, Arthur Green, Arthur Hertzberg, Michael Lerner, Marcia Prager, Jeff Roth, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Hanna tiferet Siegel, Michael Strassfeld, Arthur Waskow and Sheila Peltz Weinberg, who signed a formal letter to the Israeli government condemning Israel’s actions against Ascherman, and pledging to raise awareness of the issue among their friends and congregants.
If you feel strongly about the subject, and would like to express your support for Ascherman, please contact the Israeli embassy at 202.364.5500, ext. 4.
Here’s a strong idea for you.
If the family helps the suicide bomber murder innocent people and knew of it than they have a choice.
Sacrifice one of their own family members so that their g-d will bring back to life the innocents murdered with their aid.
OR
Have their house bulldozed and be happy that the families of the murdered don’t get to murder them as would be the case in an Islamic country, where they do such things simply if a woman is caught out without her hijab.
As long as Jews (and the rest of the world)feel bad for the Palestinians, there will be no resolution of the bloodshed in Israel (or many other places where our Arab ‘cousins’ stir up trouble)
mike–the vast majority of homes bulldozed by the IDF are not the homes of terrorists, but the homes of regular folks who can not afford proper real estate and are thus forced to build their homes illegally. israel bulldozes people’s houses ALL the time. is a rather common occurence.
read me, and me, and me, and me, and who knows, even me
nechama–as long as jews and the rest of the world DON’T feel bad for palestinians, they will continue to despise us because we will have turned a blind eye to the suffering we have caused to them.
learn some history.
It’s hard to imagine, or recall an incident, where a “western style” democracy allowed its judiciary to supersede its own legislation, particularly when the appeals are based on vague, fuzzy notions like human rights and theological morality. But here’s hoping.