(In fact a recent poll shows that given the choice of living under Palestinian rule or Israeli rule, 77% of all Israeli Arabs would prefer Israeli rule. So much for their wishing Israel were wiped off the map. While it’s true that Israeli Arabs are not in the same boat as West Bank Palestinians the fact is that Arabs that have experienced what Israel has to offer clearly prefer that over what their Palestinian brothers on the West Bank have to offer.)
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky recent blog post (since removed) is filled with suggestions about how to handle the ‘Arab question’. I would not even bother commenting on it were it not available for all to read in a cached copy linked in a Times of Israel article. But now that it is out there for all to read, I have no choice but to condemn his words.
What he has written is a Chilul HaShem of major proportion. He probably wrote in in the heat of anger after what happened in Har Nof. And I’m pretty sure he removed it because of all the flack he no doubt got about it. But cyberspace is unforgiving that way. Which means it is out there for all to read. When a prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi says things like this, it places a stain upon us all as a moral people.
I’m not even sure Rabbi Pruzansky regrets his characterizations of Arabs nor his recommendations in how to deal with them. I hope he retracts it publicly and apologizes. How bad was it?
For starters, one can only guess what he meant by saying ‘many things can be done that should not be in print’. But it must be a lot worse than the things he does say in print. Which are mostly terrible! Such as the following (partial list):
Arabs who dwell in the land of Israel are the enemy in that war and must be vanquished.
Uproot the Dome of the Rock.
Destroy the Muqata in Ramallah.
Incarcerate “President” Abbas as a war criminal.
Kill terrorists instead of capturing them.
Cremate their bodies and perhaps bury their ashes with deceased pigs.
Deported their family members to the Muslim country of their choice.
Shoot anyone who riots or throws a stone at a Jew – with real bullets.
Does Rabbi Pruzansky believe that this is in any way moral? Does he really think doing these kinds of things would bring peace to the Jewish people? Does he really believe the world will look the other way while Israel shoots and kills stone throwers? Does he think he will generate anything but unprecedented world anger and condemnation against Israel with such acts?
Does he think that there won’t be a response from the world that will make the sanctions against Iran look like a trip to Disney World? Does he think the United States will cheer and applaud Israel for doing any of these things? Does he think the United States will continue to supply Israel with its most sophisticated weapons and finance defense systems like Iron Dome?
Does he think that the 6 million Jews in Israel can be part of the family of nations if it is seen as mimicking some of the acts of a genocidal nation like Nazi Germany?
Rabbi Pruzansky may have been well intentioned in the sense of protecting the Jewish people. But he could not be more wrong. Not only is it immoral; not only is it a Chilul HaShem; not only wouldn’t it work… it would do the exact opposite. It would destroy us.
*Update