I THINK IT IS GREAT THAT ISRAELIS and PLO Muslims can work together, but when “rabbis” plant trees while the people for whom they are working burn trees nurtured by Israelis — something is wrong, terribly wrong.
IN AN Israel HaYom article (see http://tinyurl.com/y3rvb2nx ) headed Future rabbis plant with Palestinians, sow rift with Israel we see rabbinical students from U.S. non-observant “yeshivot” planting trees for PLO farmers.
One “rabbi want-to-be” from the Hebrew College in Boston (see https://hebrewcollege.edu/) “not wanting to be mistaken for a settler, covered his kippah with a baseball cap.”
The article contends the “rabbis-in-training” saw "Death to Arabs" and "Revenge" spray-painted in Hebrew on boulders and several uprooted olive trees, their stems severed from clumps of dirt.
No mention of the murders by the PLO Muslims and the number of Jews’ fruit trees uprooted by PLO Muslims.
Do these children who prefer the PLO to Israel learn anything about the reality on the ground in Israel or are they happy with blinders put on them by their rabbinical leadership?
According to the Israel HaYom article, which seems to be a handout from T'ruah,
This year's student program also includes a tour of the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, a visit to an Israeli military court that prosecutes Palestinians and a meeting with an activist from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The program is run by T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, a U.S.-based network of rabbis and cantors.
Most of T'ruah's membership, and all students in the Israel program, are affiliated with the Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative movements – liberal streams of Judaism that represent the majority of American Jews. These movements are marginalized in Israel, where rabbis from the stricter Orthodox stream dominate religious life.
Will T’ruah’s leadership introduce the future “rabbis” to anyone from Sedrot, from Askalon and Ashdod, from Beit Shean in the Jordan Valley? Based on the students’ itinerary, meeting Jews who have been — and still are — victimized by the PLO Muslims in Israel and in Gaza does not seem to be on the agenda.
Just as well. Why confuse these children with reality.
Take the boys and girls to a session of the Knesset where they can hear members of the Arab List promote the overthrow of Israel. So far, the Muslims in the U.S. House of Representatives have refrained form calling for the overthrow on the U.S. government, although, as good Democrats, they take every opportunity to denigrate anything not on their personal agenda and to disrespect the chief executive.
Aside from being told what nasty people the Jews are in Israel, will these future “religious leaders” learn anything about the Torah or the talmuds; will they encounter Rambam, Ramban, Bet Yosef; will they be disabused of the notion that Shamai was a scoundrel who always lost in the debates with Hillel. (He was not and he often prevailed; indeed, we learn that when the Messiah arrives, we will follow Shamai, not liberal Hillel.)
I think it is great that Jews and Muslims can work together, and in some cases they do, especially Muslims who are proud Israeli citizens.
It is a pity these children don’t comprehend Arabic, particularly PLO Arabic, so they could hear what is being said for Muslim-only consumption. I’m pretty certain they will not accept a translation from a Jewish source.
Although it is illegal, it’s too bad these children cannot ride an obviously Jewish tour bus into areas A and B and see how welcome they would be,
Let the locals see a kippa; strap on tefillin on a Hebron street in the Muslim sector and see what happens. (Do these children even HAVE tefillin?)
Truth in blogging: I am a dual-national, U.S. and Israel; my grandchildren live in Israel with their mother, and all of my in-laws live in Israel.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
