The Lynching of Elor Azaria

"I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6"- Ed Parker

As so many of us feared and expected from a judicial system that often mirrors Sodom rather than Sinai, Sergeant Elor Azaria was convicted of manslaughter. To put it bluntly, a Jewish hero may sit and rot his finest years in prison, possibly twenty years. It is a monumental disgrace, a travesty of injustices to rival anything this country has thrown at decent Jews in the past. Even if Elor is pardoned, the shame of the verdict, of the Bolshevik investigation and kangaroo court which tarred and feathered him from day one, these will never be erased.

In a time when the word Maccabee is thrown around with glibness, often attributed to those who deserve it least, the State of Israel, indeed, the Army of Israel itself, publicly lynched a genuine Maccabee. Today is a dark day in Jewish history. Yet another nail in the coffin containing the remains of Jewish dignity and self-respect. 

Today’s guilty verdict for Elor Azaria, a heroic soldier who ended the life of an Arab terrorist, is a stain upon the nation. A stain upon the heads of every Hellenized politician who wants Israel to act humane to the most evil people on earth. A stain upon heads of army and heads of State, including former Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon who fed the flames against Azaria from the onset. Among other perverse statements was the following:

"Gentlemen, what do you want here? An army that becomes bestial? An army that lost its moral backbone? I am proud that the company commander indicated that it was an anomalous incident.”

A stain upon Prime Minister Netanyahu for not rising sooner in defense of a valiant soldier of Israel. The fact that Netanyahu is now calling for him to be pardoned is certainly good to hear. But it stinks of political expediency, since the masses are infuriated with the betrayal of a young Jewish soldier, and Netanyahu could have stifled the witch-hunt earlier. You will recall his statement months back:

"What happened in Hevron does not represent the values of the IDF. The IDF expects its soldiers to act with self-control and in accordance with the open-fire regulations."

In any event, as shameful as the conviction is, the most important thing is to ensure that Azaria never sits a day of this perverse prison sentence.

Bestial? Antithetical to IDF values? What of Torah values? The most noble thing on earth is to put a bullet in the head of a terrorist who just tried to murder Jews.  Whether upright or twitching and bleeding on the ground. Imprisoning these beasts is immoral. In Judaism, we destroy our enemies. We certainly don’t warehouse them, educate them, and then release them to murder other Jews, as so many other terrorists have been in the past. And without a doubt, some future unprincipled craven Israeli government would have released this beast, by stating that he had no blood on his hands. Having failed in his first attempt, this Amalekite would have gone out and ensured that he was successful the next time around. So even if this creature wasn’t laden with explosives, even if Azaria wasn’t concerned with this possibility, his actions were supremely Jewish. Matityahu would have been proud of him.

Those who would persecute such a young man are not Maccabees. Maccabees don’t feed their own soldiers to the fire of world opinion. The world loves to incinerate us, yet the Jew who would feed the fire himself, is a judenrat. In a previous article, I noted the following:

In Israel, the uncompromising warrior is often treated like a fiend, or a lawless vigilante. A soldier such as Elor Azaria who kills an Arab terrorist is a hero, and any "Jewish" government that punishes such a warrior is reprehensible. I don't care if the creature was trussed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Or whether the ghoul had an explosive. A bullet to the head is the Jewish response. You can bet your last shekel that King David would have agreed. The witch-hunt against Azaria shrieks of Jewish degradation. Such actions are the antidote to Jewish funerals.

This is nothing new in a country where soldiers are increasingly afraid to use their weapons against genuine Arab threats, or in more extreme lunatic situations, are given standing orders to retreat in the face of murderous Arab violence. Where soldiers are indoctrinated with the accursed self-restraint “ethic” which permeates every normative party in Israel, and stands as an ideal in the hearts of so many military men. Sometimes the decision is to be murdered or maimed, or do the right thing by putting a bullet (or several) in the fiend’s cranium. And then face the real danger of prison sentence.

As my good friend, Moshe pointed out, Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent statement mirrored the unintended action of the evil Balaam’s curse. Kerry intended to demonize and vilify Israel by arguing the incompatibility of a Jewish State or democracy. His intention and desire was certainly malevolent, a vindictive expression of Obama’s (and his own) Jew hatred and a desire to alienate and isolate Israel. And yet unlike the belief of too many Jews on both sides of the spectrum, that his assertion was false and that a marriage of the two is workable, without even realizing his statement, John Kerry was correct. The great Rabbi Meir Kahane (may G-d avenge his blood) often stated the exact thing, and unlike Kerry he knew precisely what he was talking about. The most rudimentary definition of democracy would be the majority opinion or will of what the populace believes to be true or desires. Torah deems the majority opinion of the great halachic minds to be the ideal.

Democracy accepts the possibility of an Arab majority, or Arab interests superseding those of Jews. A Jewish state cannot without endangering and ultimately compromising its existence. Even a secular “Jewish” state cannot abide this possibility for reasons of logic. From a halachic statement, the question of who can even be in the country has rigid rules and requirements. Certainly, the Halacha denies even the noble resident stranger (and today’s gentiles in Israel are certainly not) from having any say on matters of State.

In Israel today, the leadership behaves towards Jews in a manner that is neither Jewish nor democratic. It is tragic that we are so far from a true expression of Halacha in the State of Israel. We will surely bleed because of it. But neither do we have a functional democracy, since witch-hunts, administrative detention, and the immoral torturing of innocents are anathema to the former. And a country that punishes her own soldiers for terminating an evil enemy who intended to create orphans and widows, expose their worship of a modern-day Baal on the world stage. The Baal of moral relativism and pacifism.

Where are the Maccabees today? Hard to say, since our times are exceedingly unromantic. Your average middle aged 30-year-old has no chance to pick up a gun in defense of country, despite his desire to do so. We have a repressive government acting within the well-constructed veneer of democracy. Zealotry lacks the catalyst in the contemporary scene. Unless the roof caves in, a revolution seems unlikely at this point until the inferno gets out of control. There may be a tipping point in the future, as there was once upon a time in the town of Modi’in. On that day, a zealous warrior decided that he had enough of the perversion and he started a Torah revolution. In the meantime, we know of at least one such Maccabee in Israel today. Stg. Elor Azaria is a Maccabee in the truest sense of the word. May he be freed soon enough.

#FreeElorAzariaNow

# MaccabeeRising

Return of the Hunt: Part II

“Justice, justice, shall you pursue, that you thrive and occupy the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh

Duma. Once upon a time, my only association with this unusual word was from a work of horror fiction from American novelist, Stephen King, Duma Key. That association is gone forever. Non-fiction replaces fiction. Other horrors, true nightmares in every sense of the word, now come to mind. The Arab town of Duma. Some words transcend a specific time, place, or geological location. Deir Yassin was one such place. Duma will become another. It will conjure up a terrible period in Jewish history. (Bear with me, sane reader. I have not lost my mind.)

Duma was a tragedy, but not for the reasons the Jewish liberal press would have you believe. There was no crime against Arabs, neither arson nor murder. The tragedy of Duma was in the form of a blood libel against true Jewish Maccabees, in the same manner that leftists once demonized good Jews for the murder of Arlosorov, and perpetuated the Arab myth of Jewish savagery in the murderous Arab town of Deir Yassin. 

Duma will conjure the worst examples of Jews committing grave injustices against other Jews. It will come to symbolize the true face of Jewish extremism. A face comprised of weak, evil, incompetent politicians who readily set their faceless, nameless, Shabbak thugs (who waste energy and resources that can be used to crush Arab terror!) to beat innocent Jewish children in dark rooms where only the walls hear the screams of forced confessions. Long ago, the clever Arabs discovered that leftist Jews would blame Jews when Arabs kill each other. Israel’s consistent knee-jerk reaction to such incidents have scandalized Israel’s leadership since the state’s inception. 

The second part of this terrible story involves the inevitable barbarism, which follows these blood libels. Some incidents in our modern history personify the willingness of Israeli leftists to brutalize other Jews. The Altalena was the deliberate slaughter of innocent Jewish warriors, orchestrated by Ben Gurion, and carried out in large measure by Rabin. In recent years, Yassamnikim thugs perpetrated a pogrom against helpless, defenseless Jews in Amona. Duma is the latest chapter. The common denominator is that the government always gets away with it.

Once again, the left took the lies of the Arab narrative of Duma (much like Deir Yassin long ago), and perpetrated a blood libel. In bold-faced type, they wrote the story: “Extremist Jews” set fire and murder Arabs in the Arab village of Duma. No evidence? The Shabak does not care.

The true synopsis of Duma: Arabs murder other Arabs during an ongoing war between rival families, and blame it on Jewish “settlers.” A weak criminal government uses the incident to perpetuate the story of Jewish extremism, to harass those deemed “Jewish extremists.” They utilize the brutal administrative detention to imprison and torture their targets. No one hears from them for weeks and months. They endure unimaginable horror and are made to confess.

Administrative detention: a euphemism for the abuse of Jews by Israel’s leaders where they detain Jews without cause for indefinite periods. The British once used this barbaric measure to punish Jewish heroes. Years ago, Israel’s leaders used it to incarcerate the gibor of our age, Rabbi Meir Kahane (may G-d avenge his blood.)Today, the Likud sinks even lower in their own filth by abusing this primitive, goyish, immoral act to target their Jewish detractors. It is the perfect vehicle for abuse, and contrary to the most rudimentary aspects of halachic justice. They do not require evidence of a crime. They merely have to crush your bones until you confess to one.

Several months ago, I wrote an article in The Jewish Press about this insidious crime (Return of the Hunt). More than four months have passed and the abomination continues. Thanks to the efforts of people like Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir who represents several of the incarcerated Duma “suspects,” we are now privy to details of horrific Shabak tortures against Jews ranging from physical beatings on vulnerable, sensitive spots on the body, sensory and sleep deprivation, and even sexual assault, possibly including sodomy. (ISA ‘sexually harassed’ Duma suspect.) If this doesn’t make you want to storm the barricades, nothing will.

(I would be remiss if I failed to mention the legal group HONENU who defend Jewish heroes from Israel’s repressive judicial process. They are also involved in this case, advocating for immediate justice.)

Several days ago, I expressed my concern and certainty that the Shabak was sexually assaulting these young men, since the Shabak needed to do something so terrible to them that would make them reticent to speak about it. Ben Gvir’s statements confirmed what I suspected to be true. I fear that we may never know the full extent of such actions.

Many leftists celebrate the imprisonment of kipah wearing, unruly “hilltop youth” with peyot. Yet the most abominable silence comes from Likudniks who will defend Bibi to their grave. Then we have the quislings of the respectable Habayit Hayehudi. Several months back, Habayit’s Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked jumped onto the bandwagon with their own perspective, which displayed that the loyalist “religious parties” take a back seat to no one when it comes to repugnant positions. The words “capital punishment” were thrown about. For those who hoped that he might have done teshuva, Bennett recently came out with a statement in support of the Shabak’s monstrous acts. It shows him to be a cruel and foolish man, more interested in Arab rights than Jewish lives. Those who worship these leaders should understand that Mapai once used these same KGB tactics against Bibi’s supposed ideological forebears.

A man cannot incriminate himself: a basic halachic concept. The Torah understood the dangers of forced confessions. Most liberal Jews misunderstand the Torah’s strict criteria for Halachic guilt. They view it through the distortion of an intellectual cataract, which they see as being the Torah’s reticence to administer harsh punishments for real crimes. How mistaken they are. The Torah intended to prevent a travesty to the Torah’s ideal of justice. To kill an innocent man is as obscene as the notion of a guilty man going free. It matters little even with the strict judicial criteria for say capital punishment, Jewish society had other measures to ensure that probable offenders were punished adequately while still retaining the halachic criteria. 

The Torah standards follow the reality of human nature and psychology. There is a breaking point for everyone, including the strongest of men. Evil men have always used strong-arm tactics to break people. The Shabak will do anything to a kipah wearing, peyot swinging “hilltop youth” to pin a crime on them. They will ignore Arab incitement and actual violence, but wage warfare to uncover the origins of supposed “price tag” attacks. Democracy for Arabs. Gestapo tactics for obstinate idealistic Jews. If anyone of these detainees “confessed”, it is because the Shabak broke their spirits, not to mention their bodies. 

Hasbara: The Backdrop of the Problem

One of the main impediments to exposing and eradicating the abuses of Israeli government towards other Jews is the modern day notion of public relations for Israel. Some advocates for Israel are terrified of highlighting examples of rampant institutional corruption in Israel, which harms the public in all spheres of life from economics to security. Others support such brutal measures either out of a sense of ideological commitment to their leaders and parties, or by actual approval of such measures against Jews.

Contemporary hasbara (PR) efforts are pandering, patronizing, and self- aggrandizing. They are often untrue or exaggerated. Frequently they celebrate things Torah observant Jews should not celebrate. There is a place for a proper, respectable form of hasbara. Current expressions do not meet the criteria for dignified hasbara.

One of the more popular ones is the oft mentioned, “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East…..” Surely the most popular hasbara slogan among liberal Jews. From a Torah perspective, western democracy cannot be celebrated since all systems of government, including the best of them, cannot reach the theoretical perfection that only a truly Torah oriented society can provide. Yet in the absence of such a system, a flawed democracy is preferable to a government based upon the principles of Sodom. If it were so, such egregious abuses of personal liberty would never occur.

The fact that Tel Aviv is a gay mecca in the Middle East does not mean Israel is democratic. It means that Tel Aviv is a gay mecca. It means that while Sodom is gone, the legacy of Sodom and Gomorrah permeates the country. Neither high tech technology, nor Tel Aviv’s reputation for being a gay Middle Eastern mecca is our reason for being. The latter is a reason for not being. Israel’s democracy is a veneer. A tyranny with voting booths remains a haven of corruption. Even in the worst societies, there were often veneers of equality. Yet no one likes to vote at the other end of a shotgun.

Do you live in a democracy? If the answer to even one question is yes, then you do not live in a democracy.

• Does your government ban a popular Jewish party because they speak truths relating to the Arabs of Israel?
• Do the leaders of your country detain Jews for months without any charges and denying them legal representation? 
• Do government agents beat the living pulp out of such detainees? 
• Does the judicial arm of said country approve of and permit such abusive tactics while the same country demands that her doctors heal and feed Arab murderers? 
• Has your country recently eliminated an Arab who brutally murdered Jews in his youth, was captured by Israel and then released him to kill again? If the answer is YES, then you live in an asylum? 
• Do the military/police beat and bludgeon Jews but skirt any legal consequences?

As I have noted before, if the Shabak had any evidence against any of the detainees they would have charged them long ago. There is no way on earth that a group of young untrained men could fool Israel’s world-class forensics. They would need the equivalent knowledge of the experts to fool them. The idea is absurd. You can be certain that Israel used every modern tool to uncover evidence of wrongdoing. The only logical explanation is that they are trying to pin a crime on innocent Jews.

Netanyahu has the nerve to speak of Jewish extremism. He is the very model of a Jewish extremist, a man who believes himself King, and has no cognizance of a Creator. If he did, he could never permit such abuses against other Jews. 

One day, good men will recount the true story of our internal Jewish enemies. The tale of perfidy will make Ben Hecht’s famous entry, a mere chapter in a larger encyclopedia of injustice. The Likud will sit alongside Labor in the annals of Jewish criminality. In addition to the sin of spilled Jewish blood, the Likud will have to answer for the brutal terrorizing of Jews, which we now know included sexual assault. Fellow Jews, speak loudly and fearlessly on behalf of our modern day Maccabees. Our battered brothers cannot scream out for themselves. 

A final message to our leaders who are responsible for detaining and abusing our heroic Jewish brothers. And it starts with Netanyahu at the top: Release these heroic prisoners of Zion immediately. G-d will not forgive this enduring crime against the Jewish people. There will be justice.