January 28, 2008
A leading Israeli rabbi has called for ethnic cleansing of millions
of Palestinians who have been living in
Palestine from time immemorial.
The rabbi, Yona Metzger, who hold the official title of
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in Israel, was quoted Monday
as saying in an interview with the British Weekly,
the Jewish News, that the Palestinian people could
have a nice country in the Sinai desert.
"Take all the poor people from Gaza to move them
to a wonderful new modern country with trains,
buses and cars, like in Arizona. This will be a
solution for the poor people-they will have a
nice country, and we (the Jews) shall have our
country and we shall live in peace."
Metzger also reportedly said that he would discuss the
"matter" with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
adding that he thought the idea would find
popularity among Israelis.
The rabbi also suggested that Muslims had
no right to Jerusalem, saying that Muslims
had Makka and Medina, and that Jerusalem
belonged solely to Jews.
Metzger’s remarks were dismissed by Muslim
scholars in the West Bank as "hateful,
mendacious and racist."
"This Nazi-like rabbi should know very well that
Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and that
that he and other Zionists should return back to
Eastern Europe and the Khazar region," said Abdul
Ja’abari, Professor of Sharia and Islamic studies
at the Hebron University.
"Thos who seek to banish us from our motherland
shall themselves be banished."
Ja’abari described Metzger’s remarks as
"hateful, mendacious and racist."
"If this man who calls himself rabbi had a modicum
of morality and justice, he would call for the
repatriation of these refugees back to their
former homes and villages from which they
were expelled when the hateful Israeli state
was established.
"He claims to be a follower of the Torah of
Moses, but as far as I know the Torah prohibits
oppression and prohibits injustice and prohibits
stealing people’s land and property."
Sheikh Mousa Hroub, another Muslim scholar from the
Bethlehem region, called Metzger "ignorant of both
religion and history."
"He should know that present-day Palestinians have
more spiritual and biological connections with
Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Ibrahim
(Abraham). He should also know the Arab
presence in Palestine preceded the Jewish
presence by at least a thousand years.
So what is that ignorant rabbi talking about?
Hroub also dismissed Metger arguments that Muslims
have Mekka and Medina as holy places and that
Jews had Jerusalem.
"I am not against Jews praying in Jerusalem
or San Francesco. This is not a problem. But
to say that Muslims and Christians should be
treated as second –class citizens and second-
class worshipers is totally unacceptable.
"This is like saying that the Christians had the Vatican
and don’t need other places like Bethlehem and
Nazareth. It is nonsense."
Zionist rabbis in general normally hold radical and
even racist views toward non-Jews in general
and Palestinians in particular.
A few weeks ago, an Israeli rabbi named David
Batsri referred to Arabs as "donkeys" who he said
were created by the Almighty in a human shape
in order to work and carry out certain tasks.
Such blatantly racist remarks are made routinely
by Zionist religious leaders in Israel where society
continues to drift toward religious and nationalist
chauvinism.
Not all rabbis accept these extremist views,
enforced by the persistence of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In fact, some rabbis spearhead the struggle for
human rights in the occupied territories. They
argue that Israel’s behavior are incompatible
with the authentic teachings of Judaism.
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