Rabbi Yigal Ariel: We are cutting ourselves off from the Israeli public

Rabbi Yigal Ariel of Moshav Nov in the Golan Heights published a book about haredi trends in religious Zionist circles. Here are some comments from a Ynet interview:

“While everyone else spoke of ‘disengagement’ we (Religious Zionists) spoke of ‘expulsion’. Instead of the ‘Amona evacuation’ we referred to the ‘Amona pogrom’….we are settling ourselves apart from the general public through this terminology, and are viewing the world through our own narrow and limited point of view. We are completely cutting ourselves off from the Israeli public.”

I agree. Our community can't expect a dialogue with other segments of society while continuing to use loaded vocabulary.

Rav Ariel also brings up the case of the teenage girls who were recently jailed:

As a further example, Rabbi Ariel noted that he was recently asked to endorse the efforts of Right wing groups, who refused to recognize the authority of various law enforcement agencies, and to deem such actions as ‘heroic’ and as ‘sanctifying God’s name’.

“The girls involved in such civil disobedience said that they did not recognize the authority of the State of Israel no its courts, only that of God almighty,” said Rabbi Ariel. “Is this what Religious Zionism has come to?”

The rabbi further said that what disturbed him far more than these actual actions is the fact that rabbis refused to speak out against such phenomenon [sic]. “Somebody brainwashed and warped these young girl as is the case with many Orthodox youths, and the rabbis all remain silent.”

“These are young girls that don’t know which way is up just yet,” said Ariel. “They find themselves running across a hilltop in the West Bank one day and are convinced that they are saving the land of Israel.

"What about the Israeli people, its inhabitants, however? What about the IDF that protects them on that hilltop? These girls do not recognize [them] either, and deem them ‘a rule of evil’. If this is the way Orthodox people speak, then we have become detached from reality. We have become delusional individuals.”

Rav Ariel also laments religious Zionist rabbis who have recommended against reading certain books, including "Mekimi" by Noa Yaron (whom I heard speak recently). “We (religious Zionists) now want obedient followers that do as they are told and do not ask difficult questions.”

Someone in the government has been looking at my blog

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And look at what pernicious posts they examined for right-wing incitement:

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Where are the parents?

Seven teenage girls have been arrested for settling an illegal outpost, and held in jail for over two weeks. Yitzhak Kadman, the director of the National Council for the Child, has called for their release. The girls, most of whom are only 14 years old, broke the law but did not commit a serious crime. The girls refuse to identify themselves or sign any statements because they don't recognize the authority of the court. Judges have upheld the prosecutor's decision to keep the girls in jail until they cooperate with the authorities.

The fact that they are still being held is an outrage and an embarrassment for the country. The girls should be released.

On the other side we have the parents, who could identify the girls and file a petition for their release. They have refused. In a Makor Rishon interview one mother said it would be like stabbing her daughter in the back. The parents have gotten together and agreed that the girls would be "hurt" and would get the feeling that the parents "don't agree with their decisions."

Parents should not let young teenage daughters fight the community's ideological battles with jail time. Let the parents sit in jail instead (although one mother says that she's proud of her daughter for her actions, as she could never sit in jail herself). They are not encouraging their children's autonomy by subjecting them to prison. The parents' job is to look at the big picture and get them out of jail, before there is any more psychological and (hopefully not any) physical damage. It's possible to explain, even to teenagers, that you support their cause but that you cannot let them pay such a price, and that until they are 18 they cannot make such life-altering decisions without their parents' consent.

In the religious community we discourage adult women from going into the army. How can we let 14-year-old girls sit in jail?

Either the parents are afraid of their teenagers' reaction, or they believe so deeply in their cause that they are willing to sacrifice their children's well-being to it.

My husband says I'm being too harsh on the parents, some of whom are still traumatized by the eviction from Gush Katif (the Jewish communities in Gaza). The article quotes a mother who said that the disengagement turned her daughter from a girl into a young woman who "needs to take responsibility because the adults failed." My husband says this demonstrates a sense of failure on the part of the parents, who are pinning their hopes on the next generation.

My husband is right; I'm being too harsh on the parents. Because they are getting implicit or explicit support from many others in the community, including rabbis and political leaders, who should be telling the parents to do what they have to do to get those girls out of jail.

Update

Friday links

The Shabak (Israeli general security services) has interrogated a blogger -- Muqata has the story.

Also via Muqata, a humorous blog by the survivor of a terror attack: My Shrapnel

Frumhouse has a video with samples of stylistic tzanua (modest) clothing. I'll skip the skin-tight styles, thanks.

And while we're at it, here's a link to last week's Jewish blog carnival Haveil Havalim at Life in Israel. After producing 150 editions (I know how much work he puts into it even when he is not hosting), Soccer Dad is transferring the headache responsibility over to Jack's Shack. Jack, better you than me we know you'll do a great job.

The Kosher Cooking Carnival is coming up next week. Meander on over to me-ander to post your recipes and food-related items.

Shabbat shalom.

The real reason Israeli soldiers don't rape Palestinian women

We take a break for a rare political post. (Update: Link now included.)

Update: Israel Satire Laboratory's take on it--it's almost too easy.

The newspaper Makor Rishon writes about a recent study by researcher Tal Nitzan and published by the Hebrew University's Shein Center for Social Studies. According to the study, the reason Israeli soldiers refrain from raping Palestinian women in the occupied territories is not because the soldiers are more humane. In fact the opposite is true--Nitzan claims Israeli soldiers don't rape because they have been taught to dehumanize Palestinian women. Nitzan also maintains that soldiers don't want the Arab population to increase through pregnancies as a result; according to Nitzan that would be considered an ason leumi--a national tragedy.

The Israeli Sociology Association awarded the report a mark of excellence.

Here's a quote from the study:

As Israelis/Jews, who view themselves as moral, the soldiers find it difficult to commit military rapes. It seems that (in Bosnia) men identified themselves as Serbians through committing public group rapes of Bosnian women; Jews identify themselves as non-rapists, non-assimilationists, as a nation unique in the embrace of God. Rape and non-rape are two sides of the same coin, which in different situations the use of either one can lead to the same results. [emphasis and translation mine]

Nitzan notes that the Israeli army is the only one not to commit mass rapes when it occupies another country.

Somehow I doubt that Nitzan would praise Israeli soldiers if they were in the habit of raping Palestinian women.

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