Bartholomew's Notes

The Israeli far-right’s revived “Sanhedrin” is back in the news; the Jerusalem Post reports:

A group of rabbis have issued a halachic opinion implying that OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh deserves to be killed.

The rabbis, all connected with a movement to resurrect the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish governing body, said in their halachic ruling this week that Naveh was guilty of being a moser, a Hebrew word that can be roughly translated as an informant or traitor. Literally, it means someone who transfers another’s property or person to enemy authorities.

…Naveh’s supposed treason consists of signing administrative orders prohibiting approximately 20 right-wing extremists who live in Judea and Samaria from returning to their homes and families for an indefinite period.

…Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem and a former IDF rabbi, signed the decision together with Rabbis Reuven Hass, Yehuda Edri and Ido Elbo, and Prof. Hillel Weiss of Bar-Ilan University.

The signers have since claimed that the report was a “distortion”.

The “Sanhedrin” was set up as a theocratic force in Israeli politics in 2004; its membership includes figures ranging from the respected rabbinic teacher Adin Steinsaltz through to clowns like Vendyl Jones (a pseudo-archaeologist who periodically plays the media by telling lazy hacks that he’s about to find the Ark of the Covenant) and Kahane associate named Yosef Dayan, who believes he is the rightful king of Israel.

The “Sanhedrin” also now has an English-language website, where it pronounces on various legal matters. Here’s an extract from its warning to police detailed to assist at the recent gay rights march in Jerusalem:

Providing assistance to those who commit a legal offense, as the law says “Thou shalt not … put a stumbling-block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14)… A police officer who participates in securing the parade, [commits a crime not punishable by the courts but which can indirectly] bring – G-d forbid – exile to the Jewish people as the law says “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do… That the land not throw you out.” (Leviticus 18:3,28)… In consideration of the above, any police officer that participates in the security operations for the parade is committing a criminal act, breaking Jewish law and assisting those who would commit a crime.

The “crime”, of course, being getting in the way of thugs with murder in mind.

When the “Sanhedrin” was set up, one cheerleader was Christian Zionist Hal Lindsey, who devoted a WorldNetDaily column to the subject:

…Sanhedrin member Rabbi Yisrael Ariel is the most ardent believer that the Temple is to be rebuilt in this generation. He is the former Yeshiva head, founder of the Temple Institute, and one of the paratroopers who took part in the 1967 liberation of the Temple Mount.

…The fact that a re-established Sanhedrin is now considering the rebuilding of the Temple after 2,000 years is extremely important to students of Bible prophecy. I believe that we are very near the final climactic events that end with the Second Coming of Christ.

As I noted at the time, in his enthusiasm Lindsey forgot to tell his readers that Ariel wants all non-Jews expelled from Greater Israel, and that in the 1980s he belonged to a group that sought to blow up the Dome of the Rock.

Naveh, meanwhile, is currently in the news over his plan to forbid Israeli drivers in the West Bank from giving rides to Palestinians; peace activist Uri Avnery calls him “a friend of the settlers”. He has also forbidden Peace Now activists from entering Hebron to protest against far-right settlers in the town, while allowing settlers to protest against local Palestinians. If Naveh is a traitor to the cause of Israeli expansionism and supremacy, one can only marvel at how much the “Sanhedrin” must hate ordinary Israelis, let alone Palestinians and the rest of the human race.

(Hat tip: Failed Messiah)

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