When it comes to fanaticism pertaining to Eretz Yisroel I usually reserve my harshest criticsim for extreme right wing Religious Zionists. Especially the ones who say that a sitting Prime Minister deserves death.
This type of thinking has led to some truly revolting behavior. For example some radical right wing Zionists cursed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2006 in a ritual called Pulsa Denura. This ritual is mentioned in the Gemarah (Chagiga 15A). It is a curse of death. The Pulsa Denura curse against Prime Minister Sharon is described in a one and a half year old Ynet article:
Some 20 extremists assembled at the old cemetery in Rosh Pina and chanted calls for the then-prime minister’s death. The organizers claimed to have received rabbinical approval to hold the ceremony.
But this time it isn’t fanatic Religious Zionists. It is a fanatic Chabad Rabbi. Here is what an article by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency said:
Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, a leading Chabad rabbi in Israel, was shown on television Wednesday addressing a demonstration against the Olmert government's peace moves with the Palestinian Authority.
"The terrible traitor, Ehud Olmert, who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists, this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis," Wolpe said in his speech.
He added that the prime minister, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be "hanged from the gallows" were Israel run properly.
If this isn’t incendiary speech, I don’t know what is. I realize that people are extremely upset with the Prime Minister. Many editorials have been written since the last Lebanon war suggesting he resign from office. One editorial strongly suggested it yesterday in fact.
It is one thing to be upset at him and to suggest that he resign. But rhetoric like this is beyond unacceptable. I’m sure he didn’t mean this as a call to volunteers to go out and lynch the Prime Minister. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people like that out there who think like that. 'This rabbi is right' they they might say. 'Olmert is deserving of a death.' And then plan to do something about it and cheer on someone who does this as a hero.
It should not be forgotten that Prime Mister Itzhak Rabin’s convicted assassin, Yigal Amir is considered a hero by these kinds of people. During the period of the Oslo accords, Prime Minster Rabin was similarly vilified by many such extremists as a traitor deserving of death. It is not a stretch to think that rhetoric like this from a bearded Chabad Rabbi is a cue for yet another Yigal Amir to arise and become a new ‘hero’.
No matter how one feels about Prime Minister Olmert, irresponsible speech like this cannot be to be ignored. There are far too many fanatics out there who might take the next step. Freedom to express one’s views publicly in a democratic society does not include a right to incite violence. I don’t know what remedy a democratic government can take to prevent situations like this. But there ought to be something.
In the meantime it behooves all members of a civilized society to unequivocally and without reservation - condemn the words of people like this and to completely discredit people like Rabbi Wolpe who say them. I don’t care how nice he might be to animals.
