Ask the Rabbi

  • Halacha
  • Current Events

Politically Incorrect

undefined

Rabbi Jonathan Blass

26 Adar 5764
Question
I agree 100% with the position often-stated in your site that Israel should assert sovereignty over all of its historic G-d-given land. But that would not solve the problem of the Arabs remaining within Israel. As of now, 40% of the population west of the Jordan is Arab, they cannot be controlled, and will always be making trouble and killing Jews. Even if Israel would impose a repressive apartheid regime, the experience in South Africa has shown that even that would ultimately fail. More benevolent approaches have already proven themselves failures. The suggestion to have them as "resident aliens" with Jordanian citizenship looks nice on paper, but anyone who thinks that would work in the real world is ridiculously naive. The "Security Fence" cuts off Judea and Samaria, and even for the rest of Israel, it will work only until they figure out ways of getting over, under, around, or through it. The only solution I can think of is the mass expulsion (or call it by any other euphemistic term that sounds nicer) of the Arab population, such as Rabbi Kahane proposed. I even read an article he wrote in which he showed that not only is that the only practical solution, but it is also the one mandated by Torah law. Can you suggest another solution, or should Israel just get used to having periodic suicide bombings as a fact of life? If there is a concern that this would hurt many innocent Arabs, one of the unfortunate, but unavoidable aspects of war is that innocent people suffer, so isn’t it better that innocent Arabs should suffer than innocent Jews? If there is a concern about international sanctions, what would happen if the international community would threaten the same sanctions unless Israel gives up Jerusalem, or, for that matter, agrees to dismantle Israel as a "Jewish" state, replacing it with a more politically correct American style democracy, i.e., non-discriminatory immigration policies and one-man-one-vote, regardless of race, color, creed, or ethnic origin. So why don’t the big rabbis actively advocate this solution? I realize that this solution is politically incorrect, but are rabbis allowed to refrain from teaching the truth because it is politically incorrect? In fact, if respected rabbis would advocate it, that itself would cause it to become more favorably accepted by the mainstream.
Answer
Any solution compatible with the Halacha would require Jewish sovereignty throughout the Land of Israel and a cessation of belligerent activity against the State of Israel and the Jewish People. How these goals can best be achieved is a question that should be addressed to generals and strategic analysts.
את המידע הדפסתי באמצעות אתר yeshiva.org.il