|
|
Jan. 11, 2008
Potentially dangerous talk
Extreme rabbi has nothing to do with Lubavitch: Wineberg.
RON FRIEDMAN
The American Jewish Congress called on the Chabad Lubavitch movement to publicly distance itself from the comments by a Chabad rabbi in Israel calling for the executions of Prime Minister Olmert and other leading government figures.
The comments by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe were made at a Jan. 2 rally protesting government policy toward the Palestinians. Wolpe helped establish the Chabad yeshivah in the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat.
According to multiple press reports, including television coverage, Wolpe called Olmert a "terrible traitor ... who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists; this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis."
Wolpe also said that were Israel a better-run state, Olmert, Vice-Premier Haim Ramon, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak would be "hanged from the gallows."
Wolpe has recently been active in trying to garner
support among settlers and right-wing hawks to secede from Israel and form a new Jewish state in the West Bank. "The cruel lesson we learnt in Gush Katif has taught us to be realistic and not fool ourselves," he said. "We must decide if, God forbid, we want to be led to slaughter, or to rise and take a stand against the evil designs of the government. There is no doubt that the only solution is to declare the establishment of a Jewish autonomy in Yehuda and Shomron. It is about time to think seriously about creating a body that will unite the settlements in Yehuda and Shomron to form a future state."
Wolpe is the founder of SOS Israel, a grassroots umbrella organization of right-wing groups who believe that Judea and Samaria belong to the Jewish people and must remain in Jewish hands. SOS has even organized a contest to choose a flag and a national anthem for the prospective state.
"We absolutely and without reservation condemn Rabbi Wolpe's comments," said AJC president Richard S. Gordon. "Whatever one's views on the policies being implemented by Israel – and we recognize the passions evoked by the current debate – Israel has a democratically elected government."
Gordon continued, "We also recall that the last time this kind of rhetoric – calling Israeli leaders 'traitors' and threatening their lives – was commonly espoused, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. That was a terrible and shocking tragedy, which must not be repeated. Israeli democracy leaves ample room for sharp criticism of government policies, but Rabbi Wolpe's language crosses the line of acceptable speech and brings us back to those dark days following Rabin's murder."
Gordon concluded, "Rabbi Wolpe is part of, but presumably does not speak for, the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement. It is, therefore, urgent that the leaders of Chabad Lubavitch publicly distance the movement from his hateful and dangerous rhetoric."
Rabbi Menachem Brod, spokesman for the Chabad Youth Organization, told Israeli reporters that Wolpe did not represent Chabad. "Many times in the past, Chabad has distanced itself from Wolpe's provocations, which are totally alien to the way of Chabad and the style of the Rebbe [Menachem Mendel Schneerson]," he said.
"An organization such as Lubavitch, known worldwide for its acceptance, tolerance and Ahavat Yisrael, could never make such a statement, nor be accused of associating with such inflammatory remarks," said Rabbi Yitzchak Wineberg, director of Lubavitch of Western Canada. "Sadly, however, we find ourselves having to be defended from the ravings of a lunatic fringe individual. Any person can claim to represent the entire Lubavitch and, for that matter, the entire Jewish people. Clearly, they do not.
"Thus, there is no need to 'distance' or 'condemn.' We have no association with such statements, and they were not made in the name of Lubavitch, and do not represent the attitude or position of Lubavitch at all," concluded Wineberg.
The Israeli Attorney General's Office said that they were looking into the possibility of charging Wolpe for incitement.
^TOP
|
|
