UK Chief Rabbi Warns Against Israeli Rabbis' Racism

Lord Sacks watched from London as 50 of Israel's leading rabbis - 39 who were on, and remain on, government payrolls - urged Jews not to rent properties to non-Jews.

"I was distressed by it, seriously," he says. "And I think a people who have been subjected over the centuries to racism have to be doubly careful never to practise it themselves."

Growing divisions in Israel were highlighted recently when police revealed Jerusalem's Mea Shearim suburb had become a no-go zone. The Jerusalem Post reported that every time police enter "they encounter violence from ultra-orthodox extremists"

WHILE rabbis and their views are at the centre of a bitter debate in Israel, one rabbi whose words are listened to with great respect by all sides is Jonathan Sacks.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian in Jerusalem, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom outlined his views on the peace process and even predicted "the endgame" in the Middle East.

Lord Sacks watched from London as 50 of Israel's leading rabbis - 39 who were on, and remain on, government payrolls - urged Jews not to rent properties to non-Jews.

"I was distressed by it, seriously," he says. "And I think a people who have been subjected over the centuries to racism have to be doubly careful never to practise it themselves."

Growing divisions in Israel were highlighted recently when police revealed Jerusalem's Mea Shearim suburb had become a no-go zone. The Jerusalem Post reported that every time police enter "they encounter violence from ultra-orthodox extremists".

"That is why they failed to arrest a criminal suspect for over a month despite knowing exactly where in the neighbourhood he was," the newspaper said.

But a no-go zone was not the reason a prominent rabbi avoided arrest for his support of King's Torah, a book that explains when it is acceptable for a Jew to kill a non-Jew.

Police summoned two rabbis, Yaakov Yosef and Dov Lior, for advocating the book, which has sold so well it is about to be reprinted.

Both refused, saying they were being persecuted.

Then came the extraordinary situation when Rabbi Yosef turned up to a swearing-in of a new police commander - though wanted for questioning, he sat with guests of honour.

When The Weekend Australian asked Israel's police spokesman why Rabbi Yosef was not detained, he said: "It was only afterwards it was realised there was a problem with that issue."

This week, police detained, then released, Rabbi Lior, prompting riots by his supporters.

Now 20 members of the Knesset have demanded retribution against the official who authorised the detention.

Lord Sacks says he hopes there are enough "internal correctives within Judaism" to deal with problems such as the letter by the 50 rabbis.

Israel's most successful author, Amos Oz, spoke at the same conference that Lord Sacks just attended. Oz said Israel's "ongoing occupation" of Palestinians in the West Bank was immoral and that "the expulsion of Palestinians" from their houses in Jerusalem to be replaced by Jewish settlers was also immoral.

Asked if he agreed with Oz, Lord Sacks says: "I think that this situation (occupation) cannot continue endlessly without our paying a very high price." That price would be "exercising dominance over another people".

"It (Israel) has to say to the Palestinians, 'Let me be perfectly frank with you. You don't like me and maybe I don't like you very much. But . . . do not deprive your grandchildren of the possibility of peace, of freedom, of prosperity, of the ability to live their dreams as much as is given to us in the world. Do not allow them to be paralysed by hate, hate for a people among whom they are fated to live."

Lord Sacks describes life in Israel today as "pretty dangerous". "Israel is quite isolated internationally and that's very difficult," he says.

"These are the times when the pilot makes the announcement 'turbulence ahead, fasten your safety belts'. That's how I feel about the entire international arena - what is going to happen in Egypt, in Syria, in Libya?"

And a prediction: "I'll tell you how I see the endgame. Right now in the Middle East I see deeply unfinished business - the Arab street has come to have access to the world through the new information technology media. The Arab street has realised that they have missed out on many of the blessings of modernity and they are now no longer turning against Israel but they are turning against their own rulers.

"That is going to be a very turbulent period, but in the long run the power of this information technology is that it leads to greater democratisation and greater freedom, exactly as printing did for the West in the 15th century. It took a couple of centuries. I think it is going to take 50 years in the Middle East.

"But in the long run individual citizens on Israel's borders are going to come to say: we can see that there is another way of living which is very tolerant."


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/