U.S. tax dollars fund rabbi who excused killing gentile babies - Haaretz - Israel News
Mark Graffis
Last update - 12:03 15/12/2009
Akiva Eldar / U.S. tax dollars fund rabbi who excused killing gentile
babies
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
The White House condemns the torching of a mosque, yet respectable
Americans contribute to a yeshiva whose rabbi said it's okay to
kill gentile babies. It is no surprise that the American administration
tacitly, if unenthusiastically, accepted the excuse that the map
of national priority zones the cabinet approved on Sunday does not
violate the decision to freeze construction in the settlements.
How can President Barack Obama object to furthering education in a
settlement like Yitzhar, located in the heart of the West Bank?
After all, his own tax revenues contribute to the flourishing of
the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva, the settlement's crowning glory.
This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it is permissible to kill
gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if
they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." In
his latest book, the head of the yeshiva, Yitzhak Shapira, who bears
the honorable title of rabbi, even permits killing anyone "who,
through his remarks and so forth, weakens our kingdom" (Obama,
beware!).
On November 17, this column reported that the Education Ministry's
division for Torah institutions transferred more than NIS 1 million
to this yeshiva in 2006 and 2007. The Welfare Ministry made do with
a mere NIS 150,000.
A report on donations submitted by the yeshiva to the registrar of
nonprofit organizations revealed that the American public also
participates in financing the message coming out of Yitzhar. It
states that in 2007 and 2008, the yeshiva received NIS 102,547 from
an American foundation known as the Central Fund of Israel.
The American investigative reporter Philip Weiss says on his web
site (mondoweiss.net) that money given to this fund is considered
a tax-deductible donation. That means the thousands of shekels the
fund sent to the settlement of Yitzhar were deducted from the donors'
annual tax payments to the American treasury.
According to the fund's latest financial statement, it gave some
$8 million to religious organizations in 2006, earmarked for
establishing synagogues and schools, aiding the needy and "urgent
security needs."
The fund's headquarters are located on the third floor of the Marcus
Brothers Textiles store on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Its director
is Jay Marcus, a resident of the settlement of Efrat.
His mother, Hadassah, is the fund's president and his father, Arthur,
is vice president. Both parents live in New York.
The Washington Post's David Ignatius recently reported that according
to statements filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, funds
like that of the Marcus family sent some $33.4 million, tax free,
to organizations affiliated with the settlements in 2004-07.
'Large forces, extensive damage'
So the next time the White House spokesman condemns the torching
of a mosque near Nablus, some reporter ought to ask him why respectable
American citizens contribute to the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva,
one of whose leading rabbis wrote the following incendiary words
of incitement: "[Civil] Administration inspectors have not dared
to enter Yitzhar since the freeze edict. Their experience with
Yitzhar, and its heat, are responsible for the fact that every entry
into the settlement by hostile elements requires large forces and
ends with extensive damage to army and police equipment, even greater
damage to Arab persons and property, and a region that continues
to burn in every direction for several days" (Rabbi Yosef Elitzur,
Hakol Hayehudi, December 4, 2009).
At the same time, U.S. officials could consider how a tax exemption
for donors to Friends of Ateret Cohanim and The City of David jibes
with official American policy regarding the presence of right-wing
Jewish organizations in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in
Jerusalem's Holy Basin.
Human rights organizations and Jewish peace activists in the United
States have started giving information to the authorities about
foundations that support dubious right-wing organizations in Israel.
They are asking why the administration only shuts down funds that
send charitable donations to associations affiliated with Hamas.
Cut off from their families
Gilad Shalit's prolonged isolation from the outside world is one
of the most serious and justified complaints Israel has against his
captors in Hamas' leadership. But last week, Israel's Supreme Court
gave its stamp of approval to a prolonged lack of contact between
hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and their parents, children and
grandchildren.
For two and a half years, starting shortly after Hamas seized control
of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli authorities have barred relatives
of more than 500 prisoners from entering Israeli territory.
But a panel of three justices unanimously rejected a petition from
a group of prisoners and 13 human rights organizations that argued,
among other things, that the Fourth Geneva Convention entitles every
prisoner "to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular
intervals and as frequently as possible." Whenever possible, prisoners
should be allowed to visit their homes in "urgent cases," the
convention adds.
The petitioners also noted that paragraph 1 of the Prisons Ordinance
states that visits are one of the most important means of contact
between the prisoner and his family and friends. A visit can make
it easier for a prisoner to endure his confinement and encourage
him in times of crisis.
Regular visits
Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the petition
pointed out, Turkey allowed family members to pay weekly visits to
Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdish PKK organization, whose
death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and who is detained
under special security conditions.
But nevertheless, there is a difference. Unlike Gilad Shalit, who
in three years has received only one or two letters from his parents,
the Palestinian prisoners are visited regularly by the Red Cross
and are in mail and telephone contact with their families.
On the other hand, unlike Hamas - which many countries define as a
terrorist organization - Israel is committed to upholding international
treaties and is supposed to abide by different humanitarian rules.
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