NEWS: Rabbi says God will punish Sharon

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, one of Israel's senior rabbis has called on God to "strike down" the evil one who pulls Israel out of the Gaza strip, in an obvious reference to Ariel Sharon. He also stated "The Holy One wants us all to return to the Torah, and then he will strike him with one blow and he will die. He will sleep and never wake up", which has prompted several legislators to demand he be investigated for incitement. However, a colleague has insisted the Rabbis comments were not in direct reference to happen and he does not wish harm upon him.



With religion being the main cause for the many deaths that have gone on for so long here Sharon might just want to take his chances with God this time, and continue as planned with the pull out if he truly wants to try and create peace.

No wonder the rabbi doesn't want this decision to go to a referendum, with a recent poll showing that nearly 2/3 of Israelis are in favour of the pull out from the Gaza strip.

The only way peace can come of all this is through compramise, and Sharon with Israel has taken the first brave steps to compramise and back off, let's hope the issue of religion and who is more right does not flare up again causing more unnecessary deaths in the name of religion.

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such statements could put strange and dangerous ideas into peoples' heads...

....but.....

.......Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, meanwhile, published a statement Wednesday in which he wished the prime minister a long life, and expressed his regret that his words had been interpreted as a wish on his behalf for Sharon's demise.

Shas members downplayed Yosef's remarks, saying the rabbi had not wished for Sharon's death, but rather the death of the disengagement plan.

"The rabbi was speaking against the disengagement; the rabbi has criticism against the prime minister, but you cannot say the rabbi called for harming the prime minister," Shas MK Shlomo Benizri said.

(More: haaretz: Ovadia Yosef off the hook - no criminal probe for Sharon taunt)

Rebekka

Oooh so its ok to continue the killing on both sides but he NEVER intended to lump the PM in that. Religion has no part in politics, just as politics has no part in religion, and as such the Rabbi should respectfully keep his mouth shut.

[edit on 10/3/05 by subz]

One positive side is those fanatics been able to make Sharon look like a reasonable man of the center.

I think his statements afterwards are meant to cover his ***, but meanwhile , he had put out his "fatwah" (i wonder if Rabin was the victim of a fatwah as well) if the ragbbi was a real man, he would have strapped on a bombvest to be himself the instument of his god instead of appealing to religious and idealistic youngsters...

Anyway, I would congratulate the Israeli people if they would rather give it a try with Sharon, not that I am a fan of Sharon, but he seems the only viable option at the moment to some sort of peace and he knows it.


[edit on 10-3-2005 by Countermeasures]

Originally posted by Countermeasures
but meanwhile , he had put out his "fatwah" (i wonder if Rabin was the victim of a fatwah as well)

Jews do not have a "fatwah".

Assassin Yigal Amir used "din rodef" as his explanation for why he killed Yitzhak Rabin - but he was wrong with this.

A "din rodef" is an ancient rabbinical decree.

‘Whenever one pursues another to kill him, every Jew is commanded to save the attacked from the attacker, even at the cost of the attacker’s life’ (Mishne Torah, Murderers and Preserving Life, 1:1)

[which means: killing a man to protect the person or property of another man is not a crime]

However, the rodef must be on the point of killing. Should he be about to commit another crime - even the gravest, such as idolatry, it is forbidden to kill him; he must be brought to justice (Mishne Torah, Murderers and Preserving Life, 1:11)

If some sees returning the Territories as a 'crime' , then according to Jewish halacha - the person who wants to return the Terretories would have to be brought to court and according to Jewish Law it would be forbidden to kill him!

Also, it is forbidden to kill the rodef if there is an alternative way to prevent him from killing. Whoever kills the rodef when the attacked person could have been saved by other means is considered to have committed murder.
(Mishne Torah, Murderers and Preserving Life, 1:13).



Rebekka






[edit on 10-3-2005 by Riwka]