Just like there are extremist Mullahs and extremist Imams and extremist [insert title of any clerical figure of any religion], well here’s one Rabbi whose comments have been now widely reported around the world. ONLY reason i am posting this is just to show there are individuals who share the same passion for extremism, in every nook and cranny of the world…
Rabbi accused of urging violence, BBC, 30 June 2004
A Jerusalem rabbi has been criticised for saying that Jews who give away any part of Biblical Israel to non-Jews could be killed under a religious law.
Rabbi Avigdor Neventzal told settlers that anyone who turns over Israeli land could be subject to Din Rodef - a licence to kill a fellow Jew.
The comment follows the approval by the Israeli cabinet of plans to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has strongly condemned the remarks.
Rabbi Avigdor Neventzal of Jerusalem’s Old City told a gathering of West Bank settlers on Tuesday: “I am a Torah authority, and it is my role to rule according to my understanding. According to Jewish law, anyone who turns over territories that are part of the Land of Israel to non-Jews is subject to Din Rodef, but I hope none of my students carries out an act of this sort,” he was quoted by Israeli army radio as saying.
Mr Netanyahu said the remarks incited violence. “This is something that must not be done - we are a law-abiding country and if we make difficult choices from a national standpoint, we accept them in a democratic and law-abiding manner,” he told public radio.
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Second article:
Israeli rabbi accused of inciting violence, CBC, 30 June 2004
JERUSALEM - A prominent Israeli rabbi has warned that anyone who removes Jewish settlements from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip would be subject to the death penalty under biblical Jewish law.
Rabbi Avigdor Neventzal, who oversees Jewish affairs in Jerusalem’s Old City, made the remarks on Tuesday. They were broadcast on Israeli television on Wednesday.
He said anyone who turns over Israeli lands could be subject to a “din rodef,” which gives Jews licence to kill a fellow Jew. “It should be known that anyone who wants to give away parts of Israeli land is considered condemned to death,” said Neventzal.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw 7,500 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip by 2005 as part of his “disengagement plan.”
Neventzal’s comments drew strong criticism within Israeli political circles, including from Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said the remarks incited violence. A member of the Labour party called the statements “scandalous.”
Some believe similar statements from extremist rabbis in the mid-1990s influenced the man who assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Yigal Amir, an ultra-nationalist Jew, shot and killed Rabin in November 1995.