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*[[Bruce Chilton|Chilton, Bruce]], ''Abraham's Curse: The Roots of Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam'', Doubleday, 2009
*[[Bruce Chilton|Chilton, Bruce]], ''Abraham's Curse: The Roots of Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam'', Doubleday, 2009
*[[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky, Noam]], ''World orders, old and new'', Columbia University Press, 1996
*[[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky, Noam]], ''World orders, old and new'', Columbia University Press, 1996
*Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in ''Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century'', Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill.
*Ehrlich, Carl. S, "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in ''Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century'', Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. pp 117-124.
*Ellens, J. Harold (Ed.), ''The destructive power of religion: violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
*Ellens, J. Harold (Ed.), ''The destructive power of religion: violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
*Esber, Rosemarie M., ''Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians'', Arabicus Books & Media, LLC, 2009
*Esber, Rosemarie M., ''Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians'', Arabicus Books & Media, LLC, 2009

Revision as of 19:11, 28 September 2010

Template:POV-title

The love of peace and the pursuit of peace, as well as laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, co-exist in the Jewish tradition.[1][2] This article deals with the juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and non-violence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition.[1] Throughout history, Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to promote[3][4][5] as well as oppose violence.[6]

Judaism and war

Types of Wars

Regarding war, the commandment of Milkhemet Mitzvah (Hebrew: מלחמת מצווה, "War by commandment") refers to a war during the times of the Bible when a king would go to war in order to fulfill something based on, and required by, the Torah.[7]

What is a milchemet mitzvah? It is a war to assist Israel against an enemy that has attacked them.
-Maimonedies, Laws of Kings 5:1

Wars of this type do not need the approval of the Sanhedrin.[citation needed] This is in contrast to a Milkhemet Reshut (a discretionary war), which according to Jewish law require the permission of a Sanhedrin.[citation needed] These wars (discretionary wars) tend to be for economic reasons and had exemption clauses (Deuteronomy 20:5) while, milhemet mitzvah tended to be invoked in defensive wars, when vital interests were at risk and had no such exemption clauses.[8]

The permissibility of war is limited and the requirement is that one always seek a just peace before waging war.[1][9] Modern Jewish scholars hold that the calls to war these texts provide no longer apply, and that Jewish theology instructs Jews to leave vengeance to God.[10] [11]

Religious Wars in the Bible

The Hebrew Bible contains instances of religiously mandated wars.[12] Examples include the story of Amalekites (Deut 25:17–19, 1 Sam 15:1–6), and the commandment to exterminate them,[13] the story of the Midianites (Numbers 31:1–18),[14] the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6:1–27), the battle of Ai_(Bible)#The_Ai_of_Joshua, the battle with Sihon king of the Amorites, the battle of Jarmuth, the battle of Libnah and the battle of Aphek.[15][16] However, modern religious authorities repudiate the sort of warfare described in the Torah, or assert that the violent episodes were not historical events,[17] or claim that the events were exaggerated or metaphorical.

Commandment to exterminate the Amalekites

See also: Amalekites

The Jewish Bible contains a mitzvah (commandment) to exterminate the Amalekites, based on the verse 1 Samuel 15 "Now, go and crush Amalek; put him under the curse of destruction with all that he possesses. Do not spare him, but kill man and woman, babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." Rabbinical commentator Rashi elaborates on the this commandment: "From man unto woman, from infant unto suckling, from ox unto sheep, so that the name of Amalek not be mentioned even with reference to an animal by [someone] saying: 'This animal belonged to the Amalekites'."[18] This commandment is related to attacks by the Amalekites on the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 17:8–10 and 1 Samuel 15:2).

Some commentators, including Maimonides, have discussed the ethics of the commandment to exterminate all the Amalekites, including the command to kill all the women and children, and the notion of collective punishment.[19] Maimonides explains that the commandment of killing out the nation of Amalek requires the Jewish people to peacefully request of them to accept upon themselves the Noachide laws and pay a tax to the Jewish kingdom. Only if they refuse is the commandment applicable. Some commentators, such as Rabbi Hayim Palaggi (1788–1896) argued that Jews had lost the tradition of distinguishing Amalekites from other people, and therefore the commandment of killing them could not practically be applied.[20] Rabbis nullified the Torah’s commands to kill idolatrous people, by ruling that the Canaanite peoples no longer existed, that the Assyrians, not Israelites, had wiped them out – and therefore the command was a dead letter.[21]

In later Jewish tradition, the Amalekites came to represent the metaphorical enemy of the Jews. Nur Masalha, Elliot Horowitz and Josef Stern suggest that Amalekites have come to represent an "eternally irreconcilable enemy" that wants to murder Jews, and that Jews In post-biblical times sometimes associate contemporary enemies with Haman or Amalekites, and that some Jews believe that pre-emptive violence is acceptable against such enemies.[22] Nur Masalha and other scholars describe several associations of modern Palestinians with Amalekites, including recommendations by rabbi Israel Hess to kill Palestinians, which are based on biblical verses such as 1 Samuel 15.[23]

Roman-Jewish wars

See Jewish revolt against Gallus.

Modern violence

Modern warfare

Jewish tradition permits waging war and killing in certain cases. However, the permissibility to wage war is limited and the requirement is that one always seek a just peace before waging war.[1]

Some commentators claim that religious leaders have interpreted Jewish religious laws to support killing of innocent civilians during wartime in some circumstances, and that this interpretation was asserted several times: in 1974 following the Yom Kippur war, [24] in 2004, during conflicts in West Bank and Gaza,[25] and in the 2006 Lebanon War.[26] Critics cite a booklet published by an IDF military chaplain which stated "... insofar as the killing of civilians is performed against the background of war, one should not, according to religious law, trust a Gentile 'The best of the Gentiles you should kill'...".[27] The booklet was withdrawn by the military after criticism, but the military never repudiated the guidance.[28] However, major and mainstream religious leaders have condemned this interpretation, and the Israeli military subscribes to the Purity of arms doctrine, which seeks to minimize injuries to non-combatants; furthermore, the advice was only applicable to combat operations in wartime.

Activist Noam Chomsky claims that leaders of Judaism in Israel play a role in sanctioning military operations:

"[Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Council] gave their endorsement to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, declaring that it conformed to the Halachi (religious) law and that participation in the war 'in all its aspects' is a religious duty. The military Rabbinate meanwhile distributed a document to soldiers containing a map of Lebanon with the names of cities replaced by alleged Hebrew names taken from the Bible.... A military Rabbi in Lebanon explained the biblical sources that justify 'our being here and our opening the war; we do our Jewish religious duty by being here.'"[29]

Radical Zionists

The motives for violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank directed at Palestinians are complex and varied. Religious motivations have also been documented.[30][31][32] Some Jewish religious figures living in the occupied territories have condemned such behaviour.[33] After Baruch Goldstien carried out the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, some claimed[who?] that his actions were influenced by Jewish religious doctrine, based on the ideology of the Kach movement.[34] The act was denounced by mainstream Orthodox Judaism.[35]

Some claim[who?] the use of religious references by Zionist leaders provided them with justification for the violent treatment of Arabs in Palestine. Pre-state Jewish militia used verses from the Bible to justify their violent acts, which included expulsions and massacres such as the one at Deir Yassin.[36] Jewish religious leaders at the time condemned such acts.[37]

Critics[who?] claim that Gush Emunim and followers of Rabbi Kook advocate violence based on Judaism's religious precepts.[38]

Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir was motivated by Amir’s personal political views and his understanding of Judaism's religious law of "moiser" (the duty to eliminate a Jew who intends to turn another Jew in to non-Jewish authorities) and "rodef" (a bystander can kill a one who is "pursuing" another to murder him or her if he cannot otherwise be stopped).[39] Amir’s interpretation has been described as "a gross distortion of Jewish law and tradition."[40]

The mainstream Jewish view is that Rabin's assassin had no Halachic basis to shoot Prime Minister Rabin.[41]

Extremist organizations

See also: Jewish religious terrorism

Some organizations that endorse or advocate violence based on religious principles include:

Rejection of Violence and Pursuit of Peace

The Jews are the mildest of men, passionately hostile to violence. That obstinate sweetness which they conserve in the midst of the most atrocious persecution, that sense of justice and of reason which they put up as their sole defense against a hostile, brutal, and unjust society, is perhaps the best part of the message they bring to us and the true mark of their greatness.

— Jean-Paul Sartre [54]

Judaism's religious texts overwhelmingly endorse compassion and peace, and the Hebrew Bible contains the well-known commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself".[2] In fact, the love of peace and the pursuit of peace is one of the key principles in Jewish law. Jewish tradition permits waging war and killing in certain cases, however, the requirement is that one always seek a just peace before waging war.[1]

According to the 1947 Columbus Platform of Reform Judaism, "Judaism, from the days of the prophets, has proclaimed to mankind the ideal of universal peace, striving for spiritual and physical disarmament of all nations. Judaism rejects violence and relies upon moral education, love and sympathy."[6]

Judaism and religious Jews oppose violence

The philosophy of Nonviolence has roots in Judaism, going back to the Jerusalem Talmud of the middle third century. While absolute nonviolence is not a requirement of Judaism, the religion so sharply restricts the use of violence, that nonviolence often becomes the only way to fulfilling a life of truth, justice and peace, which Judaism considers to be the three tools for the preservation of the world. [55]

Jewish law (past and present) does not permit any use of violence unless it is in self defense.[41] Any person that even raises his hand in order to hit a nother person is called "evil.".[56]

Guidelines from the Torah to the 'Jewish Way to Fight a War': When the time for war has arrived, Jewish soldiers are expected to abide by specific laws and values when fighting. Jewish war ethics attempts to balance the value of maintaining human life with the necessity of fighting a war. Judaism is somewhat unique in that it demands adherence to Jewish values even while fighting a war. The Torah provides the following rules for how to fight a war. Pursue Peace Before Waging War. Preserve the Ecological Needs of the Environment. Maintain Sensitivity to Human Life. The Goal is Peace[57]

The ancient orders (like those) of wars for Israel to eradicate idol worshiping does not apply today. Jews are not taught to glorify violence. The rabbis of the Talmud saw war as an avoidable evil. They taught, 'Thew sword comes to the world because of delay of justice and through perversion of justice.'Jews have always hated war and Shalom expresses the hope for peace, in Judaism war is evil, but at times a necessary one, yet, Judaism teaches that one has to go to great length to avoid it.[58]

In the Torah

When Moses saw a Jew striking another in Egypt, he says “Rasha [evil one], why do you hit your fellow!”.[59] The midrash comments, “Rabbi Yitzhak said: from this you learn that whoever hits his fellow, is called a rasha ”.[60] Maimonides ruled that whoever strikes his fellow transgresses a negative commandment.[61]

Talmudic teachings

Shalom (peace), is one of the underlying principles of the Torah. "Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are shalom (peace)".[62]" The Talmud explains, "The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of shalom".[63] Maimonides comments in his Mishneh Torah: "Great is peace, as the whole Torah was given in order to promote peace in the world, as it is stated, 'Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. '" [64]

According to Talmudic teaching, the very fact of taking someone's life, even when justly doing so, it effects, nevertheless the person, as the Talmud regards even a justly court that did order (in ancient times) the death penalty justifiably, that particluar court at that time was labeled "killer court" in shame.[65] and even King David, regarded of the most piuos righteous persons, (and his wars were within God's permission or/and orders) was denied building the Temple, the Talmud explaines that when king David asked "Why can I not build the Bais Hamikdash?" God's answer was: "Your hands have spilt blood (in all your many wars)."[66]

Violent tactics forbidden by Halakhah

Jewish law prohibits the use of outright vandalism in warfare.[67]

Jewish Halakhah forbids destruction of fruit trees as a tactic of war. It is also forbidden to break vessels, tear clothing, wreck that which is built up, stop fountains, or waste food in a destructive manner. Killing an animal needlessly or offering poisoned water to livestock are also forbidden.[67]

Those few cases in the Bible in which this norm was violated are special cases. One example was when King Hezekiah stopped all the fountains in Jerusalem in the war against Sennacherib, which Jewish scholars regards as a violation of the biblical commandment.[67]

See also

Violence against Jews

References

  • Berger, Michael S., "Taming the Beast: Rabbinic Pacification of Second-Century Jewish Nationalism", in Belief and bloodshed: religion and violence across time and tradition, James K. Wellman (Ed.), Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, pp 47–62
  • Boustan, Ra'anan S., "Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity", in Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity, Ra'anan S. Boustan, Alex P. Jassen, Calvin J. Roetzel (Eds), BRILL, 2010 pp 1–12
  • Chilton, Bruce, Abraham's Curse: The Roots of Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Doubleday, 2009
  • Chomsky, Noam, World orders, old and new, Columbia University Press, 1996
  • Ehrlich, Carl. S, "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. pp 117-124.
  • Ellens, J. Harold (Ed.), The destructive power of religion: violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
  • Esber, Rosemarie M., Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians, Arabicus Books & Media, LLC, 2009
  • Feldman, Louis H., "Remember Amalek!": vengeance, zealotry, and group destruction in the Bible according to Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus, Hebrew Union College Press, 2004
  • Gopin, Marc, Between Eden and Armageddon: the future of world religions, violence, and peacemaking, Oxford University Press US, 2000.
  • Harkabi, Yehoshafat, Arab attitudes to Israel, John Wiley and Sons, 1974
  • Heft, James (Ed.), Beyond violence: religious sources of social transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam , Fordham Univ Press, 2004
  • Hirst, David, The gun and the olive branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East, Nation Books, 2003
  • Hoffman, R. Joseph, The just war and jihad: violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Prometheus Books, 2006
  • Horowitz, Elliott S., Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence, Princeton University Press, 2006
  • Jacobs, Steven Leonard, "The Last Uncomfortable Religious Question? Monotheistic Exclusivism and Textual Superiority in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as Sources of Hate and Genocide", in ‪Confronting genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam‬, ‪Steven L. Jacob‬s (Ed.), ‪Lexington Books, 2009‬, pp 35–46
  • Juergensmeyer, Mark, Terror in the mind of God: the global rise of religious violence, University of California Press, 2003
  • Kuper, Leo, "Theological Warrants for Genocide: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity", in ‪Confronting genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam‬, ‪Steven L. Jacob‬s (Ed.), ‪Lexington Books, 2009‬, pp 3–34
  • Lustick, Ian, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, Council on Foreign Relations, 1988
  • Masalha, Nur, The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel, Zed Books, 2007
  • Morris, Benny, The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem revisited, Cambridge University Press, 2004
  • Niditch, Susan, War in the Hebrew Bible: a study in the ethics of violence, Oxford University Press US, 1995
  • Pappe, Ilan, The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld, 2007
  • Pedahzur, Ami, Jewish terrorism in Israel, Columbia University Press, Columbia University Press, 2009
  • Perliger, Arie and Weinberg, Leonard, "Jewish Self-Defence and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions", in Religious fundamentalism and political extremism, Perliger, Arie (Ed.), Taylor & Francis, 2004, pp 91–118
  • Phillips, Gary A., "More Than the Jews … His Blood Be Upon All the Children: Biblical Violence, Genocide and Responsible Reading", in ‪Confronting genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam‬, ‪Steven L. Jacob‬s (Ed.), ‪Lexington Books, 2009‬, pp 77–87
  • Quigley, John B., Palestine and Israel: a challenge to justice, Duke University Press, 1990
  • Saleh Abd al-Jawad (2007) "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War" in Israel and the Palestinian refugees, Eyal Benvenistî, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (Eds.), Springer, 2007
  • Selengut, Charles, Sacred fury: understanding religious violence, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008
  • Shahak, Israel, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, Pluto Press, 1999
  • Weisburd, David, Jewish Settler Violence, Penn State Press, 1985

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Fighting the War and the Peace: Battlefield Ethics, Peace Talks, Treaties, and Pacifism in the Jewish Tradition. Michael J. Broyde, 1998, p. 1
  2. ^ a b *Reuven Firestone (2004), "Judaism on Violence and Reconciliation: An examination of key sources" in Beyond violence: religious sources of social transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Fordham Univ Press, 2004, pp 77, 81.
    • Goldsmith (Ed.), Emanuel S. (1991). Dynamic Judaism: the essential writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Fordham Univ Press. p. 181. ISBN 0823213102.
    • Spero, Shubert (1983). Morality, halakha, and the Jewish tradition. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. pp. 137–318. ISBN 0870687271.
  3. ^ Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill.
  4. ^ Horowitz, Elliott S. (2006). Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691124914.
  5. ^ Stern, Jessica (2004). Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, Jessica Stern. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060505338.
  6. ^ a b The Columbus Platform: The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism, 1937
  7. ^ Maimonedies, Laws of Kings 5:1
  8. ^ Mishnah, Tractate Sotah 8:7
  9. ^ Deut 20:10
  10. ^ Weiss, Steven I. (2010-02-26). "The Ghosts of Purim Past: The holiday's violent beginnings—and what they mean for the Jewish future".
  11. ^ "Violence and Vengeance: Purim and Good Friday". Dialogika. Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations. 1998-03-28.
  12. ^
    • Salaita, Steven George (2006). The Holy Land in transit: colonialism and the quest for Canaan. Syracuse University Press. p. 54. ISBN 081563109X.
    • Lustick, Ian (1988). For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel. Council on Foreign Relations. pp. 131–132. ISBN 0876090366.
    • Armstrong, Karen (2007). The Bible: a biography. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 211–216. ISBN 0871139693.
  13. ^
    • A. G. Hunter "Denominating Amalek: Racist stereotyping in the Bible and the Justification of Discrimination", in Sanctified aggression: legacies of biblical and post biblical vocabularies of violence, Jonneke Bekkenkamp, Yvonne Sherwood (Eds.). 2003, Continuum Internatio Publishing Group, pp 92-108
    • Feldman, Louis H., "Remember Amalek!": vengeance, zealotry, and group destruction in the Bible according to Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus, Hebrew Union College Press, 2004
    • For a modern reference to the Amnalekites, see Ronen, Gil, "Netanyahu Sees Iran as Amalek, Advisor Says", in Israel National News, [1]
  14. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God delusion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 245. ISBN 0618680004.
  15. ^ Joshua 12:9–24
  16. ^
    • Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. p 117-124.
    • Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion', pp 289 - 296
    • Hitchens, Christopher, God is Not Great page 117
    • Selengut, Charles, Sacred fury: understanding religious violence, p 20
    • Cowles, C. S., Show them no mercy: 4 views on God and Canaanite genocide, page 79
  17. ^ Bloxham, Donald, The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies, p 242: "The genocidal campaigns claimed for early Israelites [discussing Midianites and Amalekites], however, were largely ficitonal."
  18. ^ Harris, Michael J, Divine command ethics: Jewish and Christian perspectivesi, p 137
  19. ^
    • Divine command ethics: Jewish and Christian perspectives, Michael J. Harris, pp 137-138
    • The Bible's Top Fifty Ideas: The Essential Concepts Everyone Should Know, Dov Peretz Elkins, Abigail Treu, pp 315 - 316
    • The ethics of war: shared problems in different traditions, Richard Sorabji, David Rodin, p 98
    • Theory and practice in Old Testament ethics, John William Rogerson, M. Daniel Carroll R., p 92
  20. ^ Eynei Kol Ḥai, 73, on Sanhedrin 96b
  21. ^ Sword and Plowshare as Tools of Tikkun Olam: Violence & Nonviolence in Jewish Thought & Action, By Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 10/2/2007
  22. ^
    • Masalha, Nur, Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: the politics of expansion, Pluto Press, 2000, pp 129-131.
    • Stern, Josef, "Maimonides on Amalek, Self-Corrective Mechanisms, and the War against Idolatry" in Judaism and modernity: the religious philosophy of David Hartman, David Hartman, Jonathan W. Malino (Eds), Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004 page 360-362
    "The example concerns the set of biblical commandments … centered on Amalek, the ancient nation that ambushed Israel during the Exodus from Egypt… What does it mean to 'blot out the name of Amalek'? We have evidence of what this meant for biblical Israel … where the commandment is taken literally to mean: destroy by actually killing every Amalekite, man, woman, and child…. Some rabbis allegorize Amalek, taking it as a eupemism for the evil inclination; others have it symbolize the enemies of Israel throughout history; yet others make it the personification of evil…. There are also more specific historital identifications of the people of Amalek. It is well known that in medieval rabbinic literature Esau, and his land Edom, are typologically identified with Rome and, in turn, with Christianity. It is less widely known that Amalek … also came to be conflated with his ancestor and identified with Rome and then Christianity. By the early medieval period, the descendants of the ancient nation of Amalek were identified by some Jewish authors as the Armenians…. Jewish authors could put a biblical face on this overarching foe by identifying it with Amalek and find hope for ultimate victory in the biblical promise that 'God is at war with Amalek from generation to generation' (Ex. 17:16)."
    • Hunter, Alastair G. "Denominating Amalek: Racist stereotyping in the Bible and the Justification of Discrimination" in Sanctified aggression: legacies of biblical and post biblical vocabularies, Jonneke Bekkenkamp, Yvonne Sherwood (Eds), Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003, page 99-105.
    "The Amalekites could well be regarded as the archetypal vicitims in the Pentateuch, in that divine instructions to dispose of this people are given on more than one occasion… They also symbolize a further classic device: the rhetorical move … of portraying the victim as agressor in order to justify his/her elimination…. For most Jews .. .the denunciation of Haman the enemy is part of the light-hearted celebration of a rather 'laid back' festival. But there are more sinister implications which have in recent years emerged on the political scene …. In the early 1900s Rabbi Hayim Soloveitchik of Brisk argued that … there was a possibility of contemporary war against Amalek … Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik used this position in the early 1940s to contend that the Allied war against Nazi Germany could be understood in Jewish law as a war against Amalek… [regarding the Sept 11 attacks] a couple of 'position pieces' draw disturbing parallels between the suicide plots and the enemy Amalek. The first is .. written by Rabbi Ralph Tawil, in which the writer … comes perilously close to equating President George Bush's war against terrorism with Israel's command to eradicate their troublesome enemy."
  23. ^
    • Masalha, Nur, Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: the politics of expansion, Pluto Press, 2000, pp 129-131.
    "Frequently Jewish fundamentalists refer to the Palestinians as the 'Amalekites' … of today… According to the Old Testament, the Amalek … were regarded as the Israelites' inveterate foe, whose 'annihilation' became a sacred duty and against whom war should be waged until their 'memory be blotted out' forever (Ex 17:16; Deut 25:17-19)…. Some of the [modern] political messianics insist on giving the biblical commandment to 'blot out the memory of the Amalek' an actual contemporary relevance in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. In February 1980, Rabbi Israel Hess … published an article [titled] 'The Genocide Commandment in the Torah' … which ends with the following: 'The day is not far when we shall all be called to this holy war, this commandment of the annihilation of the Amalek'. Hess quotes the biblical commandment … 'Do not spare him, but kill man and woman, baby and suckling, ox and sheep, camel, and donkey'…. In his book On the Lord's Side Danny Ribinstein has shown that this notion permeates the Gush Emunim movement's bulletins [one of which] carried an article … which reads 'In every generation there is an Amalek. The Amalekism of our generation finds expression in the deep Arab hatred towards our national revival …'… Professor Uriel Tal … conducted his study in the early 1980s … and pointed out that the totalitarian political messianic stream refers to the Palestinian Arabs in three stages or degrees: …[stage] (3) the implementation of the commandment of Amalek, as expressed in Rabbi Hess's article 'The Commandment of Genocide in the Torah', in other words 'annihilating' the Palesinian Arabs'".
    • See also Hunter, p 103
    • Also describing Palestinians as targets of violence due to association with Amalek is: Geaves, Ron, Islam and the West post 9/11, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, p 30
    • Shulamit Aloni, a member of the Israeli Knesset indicated in 2003 that Jewish children in Israel were being taught in religious schools that Palestinians were Amalek, and should therefore an act of total genocide was a religious obligation - Murder Under the Cover of Righteousness - CounterPunch
  24. ^
    • Rabbi Shim'on Weiser, "Purity of weapons - an exchange of letters" in Niv" Hammidrashiyyah Yearbook of Midrashiyyat No'am, 1974, pp.29-31.
    quoted in Masalha, Nur (2007). The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel. Zed Books. p. 158. ISBN 1842777610.. This book quotes Amnon Rubinstein, From Herzl to Gush Emunim and Back (1980), p. 124.
  25. ^ "ADL Strongly Condemns Declaration of Rabbis" - ADL press release, dated Sept 9, 2004; http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4561_62.htm
  26. ^ Rebecca Spence " Rabbis: Israel Too Worried Over Civilian Deaths", in The Jewish Daily Forward, issue of August 25, 2006. http://www.forward.com/articles/1438/
  27. ^
    • Abraham Avidan (Zamel), After the War: Chapters of Meditation, Rule, and Research, as quoted by Steven Schwarzschild, "The Question of Jewish Ethics Today" (Dec, 24, 1976) in journal Sh'ma (vol. 7, no. 124) - http://www.clal.org/e14.html. Schwarzschild article reprinted in The pursuit of the ideal: Jewish writings of Steven Schwarzschild, chapter 7, pp 117-136, SUNY Press, 1990 (ISBN 0791402193). Latter book quotes the booklet on page 125. Schwarzschild writes that Avidan was the "military rabbi" of the Central Command Headquarters.
    • Schwarzschild article includes a bracketed comment as follows: "... insofar as the killing of civilians is performed against the background of war, one should not, according to religious law, trust a Gentile [and justifies this claim, citing the utterance from the Codes:] 'The best of the Gentiles you should kill"...'". Schwartzschild indicates that the phrase "[t]he best of the Gentiles you should kill" is from the Mekhilta 14:7 ("tov shebagoyim harog"), citing Nathan Suesskind, "Tov Sheba-Goyim" C.C.A.R. Journal, Spring 1976, pp. 28f. and n. 2.
    • Schwarzschild article states that the booklet was discussed contemporaneously in the Mapam newspaper. Other sources cite contemporaneous discussions by Haolam Hazeh, 5 January 1974; by David Shaham, 'A chapter of meditation', Hotam, 28 March 1974; and by Amnon Rubinstein, 'Who falsifies the Halakhah?' Maariv, 13 October 1975.
    • Masalha, Nur (2007). The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel. Zed Books. p. 158. ISBN 1842777610.. This book also cites the chaplain's booklet.
    • See also a discussion of "Religious Zionist military rabbinate" in George Wilkes (2003) "Judaism and Justice in War", in Just war in comparative perspective, Paul F. Robinson (Ed.), Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., p. 22.
  28. ^
    • Schwarzschild, Stephen (1990). The pursuit of the ideal: Jewish writings of Steven Schwarzschild. SUNY Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 0791402193.
  29. ^ Chomsky, Noam (1999). Fateful triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (2nd Ed, revised). South End Press. pp. 153–154. ISBN 0896086011.
  30. ^ Weisburd, Jewish Settler Violence, Penn State Press, 1985, pp 20-52
  31. ^ Lustick, Ian, "Israel's Dangerous Fundamentalists", Foreign Policy, 68 (Fall 1987), pp 118-139
  32. ^ Tessler, Mark, "Religion and Politics in the Jewish State of Israel", in ‪Religious resurgence and politics in the contemporary world‬, (Emile Sahliyeh, Ed). SUNY Press, 1990 pp 263-296.
  33. ^ [2]
  34. ^
  35. ^ The ethics of war in Asian civilizations: a comparative perspective By Torkel Brekke, Routledge, 2006, p.44
  36. ^
    • Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007) "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War" in Israel and the Palestinian refugees, Eyal Benvenistî, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (Eds.), Springer, p. 78:
    ".. the Zionist movement, which claims to be secular, found it necessary to embrace the idea of 'the promised land' of Old Testament prophecy, to justify the confiscation of land and the expulsion of the Palestinians. For example, the speeches and letter of Chaim Weizman, the secular Zionist leader, are filled with references to the biblical origins of the Jewish claim to Palestine, which he often mixes liberally with more pragmatic and nationalistic claims. By the use of this premise, embraced in 1937, Zionists alleged that the Palestinians were usurpers in the Promised Land, and therefore their expulsion and death was justified. The Jewish-American writer Dan Kurzman, in his book Genesis 1948 … describes the view of one of the Deir Yassin's killers: 'The Sternists followed the instructions of the Bible more rigidly than others. They honored the passage (Exodus 22:2): 'If a thief be found …' This meant, of course, that killing a thief was not really muder. And were not the enemies of Zionism thieves, who wanted to steal from the Jews what God had granted them?'
    • Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. p 117-124.
  37. ^ Morris 2008, pp. 126–128.
  38. ^
    • Weisburd, David (1985). Jewish Settler Violence. Penn State Press. p. 65. ISBN 0271026731.
    • Bruce, Steve (2008). Fundamentalism. Polity. p. 4. ISBN 0745640753.
    • Ehud Sprinzak, "From Messianic Pioneering to Vigilante Terrorism: The Case of the Gush Emunim Underground", in Inside terrorist organizations David C. Rappoport (Ed.), Routledge, 2001. p. 194-214.
  39. ^ Stern, Jessica (2004). Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. HarperCollins. p. 91. ISBN 0060505338,. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  40. ^ Rabbinic response: Jewish Law on the Killing of Yitzhak Rabin, By Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center, 11/14/2005: "First of all, the law of the pursuer only applies to a spontaneous act, whereas Yigal Amir planned this assassination for two years. Secondly, the law of the pursuer is only intended to save a potential victim from imminent death. There is absolutely no proof that withdrawing from certain territories will directly lead to the death of any Jews. On the contrary, Prime Minister Rabin, over half the members of the Knesset, and over half the population of Israel believe exactly the opposite - that it will save Jewish lives. Lastly, this law does not refer to elected representatives, for if Yitzhak Rabin was really a pursuer, then so are all his followers and that would mean that Amir should have killed over half the population of Israel! In other words, even according to the law of the pursuer, this act was totally futile and senseless since the peace process will continue."
  41. ^ a b http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/14-10%20The%20Halacha%20of%20Rodef%20and%20the%20Rabin%20Shooting.htm
  42. ^ U.S. Dept. of State, Country Reports on Terrorism 2004. April 2005
  43. ^ U.S. Appeals Court Affirms Designation of Kahane Chai, Kach as Terrorist Groups Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
  44. ^ Kach, Kahane Chai (Israel, extremists) Council for Foreign Relations, 20 March 2008
  45. ^ Lustick For The Land and The Lord: The Evolution of Gush Emunim, by Ian S. Lustick
  46. ^ Pedahzur, Ami, and Arie Perliger (2009). Jewish Terrorism in Israel. Columbia University Press. pg 33-36
  47. ^ a b Anti-Defamation League on JDL
  48. ^ Bohn, Michael K. (2004). The Achille Lauro Hijacking: Lessons in the Politics and Prejudice of Terrorism. Brassey's Inc. p. 67. ISBN 1574887793.
  49. ^ Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony
  50. ^ JDL group profile from National Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorism
  51. ^ Kahane Chai (KACH) Public Safety Canada
  52. ^ Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) U.S. Department of State, 11 October 2005
  53. ^ Council Decision of 21 December 2005 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decision 2005/848/EC Official Journal of the European Union, 23 December 2005
  54. ^ Jean-Paul Sartre, 1946, Reflexions sur la question juive
  55. ^ Bearing witness: violence and collective responsibility, Sandra L. Bloom, Michael Reichert, Routledge, 1998: page 242
  56. ^ http://www.ask.com/questions-about/Rasha
  57. ^ http://judaism.about.com/library/3_intro/level2/bl_war.htm
  58. ^ Judaism by Arye Forta, Heinemann, 1995, ISBN 9780435303211 , p. 122 [3]
  59. ^ Exodus 1:13
  60. ^ Ginzey Schechter , Vol. I, p. 114, as cited by Rabbi Professor David Golinkin, "The Jewish Attitude Towards Non-Violent Protest and Civil Disobedience"
  61. ^ Maimonides, Hovel Umazik 5:1, as cited by Rabbi Professor David Golinkin, "The Jewish Attitude Towards Non-Violent Protest and Civil Disobedience"
  62. ^ Proverbs 3:17
  63. ^ Talmud, Gittin 59b
  64. ^ Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, The Laws of Chanukah 4:14
  65. ^ El Talmud by Iser Guinzburg, Editorial MAXTOR, 2009, ISBN 8497615794, 9788497615792, p. 54
  66. ^ http://www.torah.org/learning/basics/primer/temple/history_sub.html
  67. ^ a b c [4]
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