Here’s a scorching post by Yossi Gurvitz at +972 on Jewish religious law on the issue of soldiers raping women during war.
Answering a question from a concerned reader regarding the Torah’s position on rape during war, Colonel Eyal Qarim of the Military Rabbinate wrote nine years ago – out of uniform – that ‘prohibitions against immorality’ are removed during war….
Q. Is it allowed in our days [sic] for an IDF soldier, for example, to rape girls during a fight, or is such a thing forbidden?
Rabbi Qarim answered thus:
“The wars of Israel […] are mitzvah wars, in which they differ from the rest of the wars the nations wage among themselves. Since, essentially, a war is not an individual matter, but rather nations wage war as a whole, there are cases in which the personality of the individual is “erased” for the benefit of the whole. And vice versa: sometimes you risk a large unit for the saving of an individual, when it is essential for purposes of morale. One of the important and critical values during war is maintaining the army’s fighting ability […]
As in war the prohibition against risking your life is broken for the benefit of others, so are the prohibitions against immorality and of kashrut. Wine touched by gentiles, consumption of which is prohibited in peacetime, is allowed at war, to maintain the good spirit of the warriors. Consumption of prohibited foods is permitted at war (and some say, even when kosher food is available), to maintain the fitness of the warriors, even though they are prohibited during peacetime. Just so, war removes some of the prohibitions on sexual relations (gilui arayot in the original – YZG), and even though fraternizing with a gentile woman is a very serious matter, it was permitted during wartime (under the specific terms) out of understanding for the hardship endured by the warriors. And since the success of the whole at war is our goal, the Torah permitted the individual to satisfy the evil urge (yetzer ha’ra in the original -YZG), under the conditions mentioned, for the purpose of the success of the whole.”
Wow. Herein lies a hornet’s nest. The first is that according to Qarim, the rape of female prisoners is not just permitted, it is also essential to war; the success of the whole at war relies on it. Even Genghis Khan, who (according to tradition) said that the best thing in the world is “to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best” – even he, who excelled at rape, did not see it as essential to warfare, just a satisfactory outcome. Stalin, likewise, dismissed complaints about rapes carried out massively by the Red Army by saying “a soldier has urges,” but he did not see it as an essential element of military life.
“The wars of Israel […] are mitzvah wars”
That’s BS. Take religion out of war. It doesn’t belong there. Otherwise it becomes Jewish Jihad.
Most of these rabbis who supply the occupation with the moral signoff are way out of their depth.
Meanwhile increasing numbers of Ultra orthodox don’t want to sit beside women on El Al flights. Israel is really turning out nice .
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/ultra-orthodox-jews-increasingly-refuse-to-sit-near-women-on-el-al-flights-1.420298
Max Blumenthal should take this to the streets of Tel Aviv, like in his “feeling the loyalty to the Jewish State” video.
What is going to be heee-frickin-larious is the ziobots below me on this thread screaming out: Israel is not as bad as Genghis Khan!! HAHAHA. A few years ago, it was “israel is not as bad as China or North Korea” then it was “Israel is not as bad as Zimbabwe or Sudan” — Now, its Stalin and Genghis Khan……..We’re slowly wittling away at the list, Zio’s……
Wrong translation.
גילוי עריות means not just rape but any prohibited sexual relationships, including incest, sex between brother and sister, sex between married woman and non-married man and vice versa, sex between any first relationship family members. So why stop at the “permit on rape” accusation, Phil?
This is one of three mortal sins in Judaism, punishable by death. So the only plausible explanation for the meaning was ” having sex” and not “raping” with another woman, whether she was married or not. Moreover, there is no mentioning about forcing the woman to have sex with the soldier.
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/גילוי_עריות
fraternizing with a gentile woman is a very serious matter, it was permitted during wartime
What kind of sage could write this dreck? It would be interesting to hear the political rabbi argue this in front of the any Supreme Court besides Israel.
The path to hell for Israel is being paved by those that exist within it. This wanker rabbi is one of the many whose scheming ways will help Israel destroy itself.
Acceptable rape is a war crime in and of itself. Horrific
War or no war this Rabbi looks at non Jews as less than. Dangerous, horribly wrong and this attitude of “less than” is more prevalent amongst Jews than people like to publicly admit. I have been around large groups of Jewish individuals for over a 20 year period and I have often been shocked by the things I heard said about “gentiles” Often said when folks would forget I was there and listening closely. Now I am not saying that this does not go on amongst other religious, cultural or other potentially biased individuals. I had just never ever heard this sort of cultural and religious racism around other groups of people I have been around