Posted on 02/10/2005 1:52:39 PM PST by anotherview
Feb. 10, 2005 22:54
US Reform leader: Referendum would lead to crisis with US
By MATI WAGNER
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of America's Union for Reform Judaism, warned Thursday that foot dragging on disengagement in the form of a referendum would cause a crisis with the US.
"The US is a true friend of Israel," said Yoffie in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post during a visit here.
"But the notion that the US will sit by and be accepting as Israel decides to dump the disengagement plan or to delay it indefinitely is a serious mistake."
"It will lead to a major crisis with the US," he said.
Yoffie also warned that the end result of giving in to settlers' intransigence on disengagement would be the transformation of Israel into an apartheid state.
"I recognize the pain of the settlers," said Yoffie, who also met with numerous politicians, including Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Interior Minister Ofir Paz-Pines and Building and Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog.
"But when that gets translated into 'therefore we can never withdraw' the only result will be the end of Israel as a Jewish state or turning Israel into an apartheid state. There is no possibility of ever seeing peace if there is not going to be territorial compromise," added Yoffie.
The Union for Reform Judaism, the congressional arm of the Reform Jewish Movement in North America, represents 1.5 million Reform Jews in more than 900 synagogues and Temples across the US and Canada.
Yoffie, who came to meet with 100 Reform high school students spending a semester in Israel and 70 rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College, also tackled the theological question of ceding parts of the Land of Israel.
"The religious argument [that it is prohibited to give up land] is a fundamentally flawed argument. The holiness of Israel does not relate to the sanctity of the earth. Dirt is dirt even in the land of Israel.
"We bring holiness to the land through the mitzvoth that we do there. We go there to create a holy community. But what is distinctive about the land of Israel is that there are certain mitzvoth that can only be done there.
"Therefore, It has nothing to do with borders. The holiness does not come from any particular notion of some physical set of borders that might be defined. You can do those mitzvot in Tel Aviv, you can do them in Jerusalem or you can do them in Haifa.
"And that is the essence of the kedusha of Eretz Yisrael, not the physical qualities of the land. We have to be in Israel. But we don't have to be in some particular configuration set by what is currently the right wing.
"We maintain the holiness of Israel by creating a holy community there and by observing the mitzvoth and in particular by being sensitive to the specific mitzvoth of the land of Israel. But that does not obligate us to a particular set of borders."
Reform rabbis are notoriously liberal. This guy sounds almost like he threatening Israel to do what the Transnational Progressives want or America won't be your friend anymore. Phooey on him!
Phooey on him even if he is right? I think Israel would lose support from the Bush administration if it delayed on the commitments Prime Minister Sharon made to President Bush.
Perhaps . . . but you're missing the BIG PICTURE. Most of the American people will never let our government forsake Israel. NEVER!
Any politician who even attempts to do so . . . including GW, who I support whole-heartedly . . . would suffer catastrophic results if they even attempted such foolishness.
Us Silent-Majority-types have learned we swing the Biggest Stick of any advocacy group . . . and we'll swing wildly and for the fence if Israel is threatened. And we'll damn sure hold our own government accountable.
GW knows this.
There might be a lot of political "posturing" but rest assured . . . many, many of us feel a special kinship with the Israeli people and we'll never turn our backs on them.
Eric Yoffie missed a good opportunity to shut up.
Blowhard.
As a supporter of Israel I say they have been and continue to be massively incompetent in their security problems.
The "rabbi" doesn't understand Judaism's fundamentals concerning Jews and Eretz Yisrael, uses the apartheid weapon and imitates Klinton by "feeling their ["settlers"] pain."
A perfect self-hating reformer!
This is Sharon's lunacy and incompetence. Disengagement was not Bush's idea. Israel sold Bush on the idea. Now they have to do it or Bush will be mad? Talk about screwing yourself. Is it also Bush's idea that Israel is releasing murderous terrorists? The American people would support Israel if it refused to do so.
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