[News] Meet the Israeli army's misogynist chief rabbi

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/content/meet-israeli-armys-misogynist-chief-rabbi/17481 



  Meet the Israeli army's misogynist chief rabbi

David Sheen <https://electronicintifada.net/people/david-sheen> - 25 
July 2016

The rabbi newly appointed to the Israeli army’s top religious post has 
made a long list of racist and misogynist edicts over the years, 
including one permitting Jewish soldiers to rape non-Jewish women during 
wartime.

The elevation of Colonel Eyal Karim to the rank of brigadier general and 
the position of chief rabbi was thrown into question after his past 
controversial statements were reported by Israeli media. After holding a 
private meeting with Karim, however, Israel’s chief of staff Gadi 
Eizenkot publicly proclaimed that he would support the appointment 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.730678>.

Once he is military chief rabbi, Karim will be responsible for making 
decisions with regards to religious matters in the armed forces. Karim 
currently serves as the second-highest ranking religious official in the 
Israeli army. His nomination to the top post has received the support of 
the State of Israel’s two chief rabbis 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.730557> and Defense 
Minister Avigdor Liberman <http://www.93fm.co.il/radio/329915/>.

Comments Karim made in 2003 when he was a civilian resurfaced after his 
appointment. In a column called “Ask the Rabbi” at Kipa.co.il, a popular 
Hebrew-language website catering to religious Jews, Karim responded to a 
number of anonymous letters inquiring about specificities of Jewish 
religious law, including a question about rape in times of war.

“Is it allowed nowadays for an IDF [Israeli army] soldier, for example, 
to rape girls during battle, or is such a thing forbidden?” Karim was 
asked. He answered 
<http://www.kipa.co.il/ask/show/17251-%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%AA%20%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%90%D7%A8%20%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150811630815457_31584592_10151461095585457#f1c4c8e594>: 
“Even though fraternizing with a gentile woman is a very serious matter, 
it was permitted during wartime … the Torah permitted the individual to 
satisfy the evil urge.”

Karim’s comments first attracted notice in 2012, when dissident Israeli 
journalist Yossi Gurvitz 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-dissident-ordered-submit-facebook-posts-military-censor> 
first published 
<http://972mag.com/idf-colonel-rabbi-implies-rape-is-permitted-in-war/39535/> 
them in English at /+972 Magazine/. Gurvitz says that when he asked the 
military to comment on Karim’s statements, he was rebuked by an army 
spokesperson 
<http://972mag.com/idf-colonel-rabbi-implies-rape-is-permitted-in-war/39535/> 
and told that his query “disrespects the IDF, the State of Israel and 
the Jewish religion.”


    Public retraction

The day after Gurvitz’ article appeared on /+972/, Karim published a 
letter at Kipa, reported by Gurvitz, attempting to walk back 
<http://972mag.com/why-we-refuse-to-believe-certain-abominations-of-jewish-law/39686/> 
his 2003 religious ruling sanctioning rape: “It is clear that in our 
times … this ruling is certainly not to be acted on.”

The military seemed to be satisfied with Karim’s disavowal of his 
previous edict; he continued to serve as the army’s second-highest 
religious official for the next four years. But the announcement that he 
was to be promoted to army chief rabbi elicited another round of 
outrage, as well as a more thorough examination of his previously 
published opinions.

In his Kipa column, Karim has promoted burning Christian bibles, killing 
wounded “terrorists” 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.730532> and torturing 
captives 
<http://www.kipa.co.il/ask/show/17885-%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%99-%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%95%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D>, 
stating: “Terrorists should not be treated as human beings, because they 
are animals.”

In one of his responses, Karim called for the transformation of the 
state into a Jewish monarchy and a genocide against the people of 
“Amalek.” 
<http://www.kipa.co.il/ask/show/32906-%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A9-%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%95%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%A9> 
The Amalek people mentioned in the Torah are not known to have any 
modern-day descendants, but some rabbis attribute their bloodline to 
Israel’s current enemies, dooming them to a divinely commanded death 
sentence.

Karim also ruled that the court testimony of females cannot be relied 
upon, because of their supposedly “sentimental 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.730678>” nature. He also 
ruled that Jewish men in the Israeli army may not serve under the 
command of a woman, as this would require them to gaze upon her 
<http://www.kipa.co.il/ask/show/32906-%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A9-%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%95%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%A9>.

Karim’s tenure as the second-highest-ranking religious official in the 
military did not pass without controversy.

In 2013, he produced a booklet for Israeli soldiers which effectively 
asserts that Jewish supremacy was divinely ordained 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.730326> and that this would always 
overrule the laws of democracy. The booklet states: “The concept that 
non-Jews have equal rights with Jews in Israel goes against the opinion 
of the Torah, and the state’s representatives have no authority to act 
against the Torah’s will.” The army later apologized for the book’s 
contents.

When Karim’s impending appointment was made public this month and the 
rabbi began to draw renewed criticism for his past comments, his 
detractors were again accused of “anti-Semitism” — and even of 
fabricating a “blood libel” — in an op-ed by columnist Dror Eydar in 
/Israel Hayom/ <http://www.israelhayom.co.il/opinion/396719>, the 
highest-circulation newspaper in the country.


    Threats of rape as instrument of oppression

Karim’s defenders insist that his comments on rape were misunderstood 
and that he couldn’t possibly have permitted sexual assaults against 
Palestinian women. But threats of rape have been wielded by Israeli 
occupation forces against Palestinians.

In June 2014, Bar-Ilan University professor Mordechai Kedar publicly 
suggested that Israeli forces dissuade Palestinians from taking up arms 
by threatening the rape of their female relatives 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-government-promotes-rape-advocate-expert-palestinians>. 
The military seems to have quickly adopted Kedar’s doctrine 
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-tortures-prisoners-captured-gaza-invasion/13861>; 
Palestinians taken captive that same summer during Isreal’s assault on 
Gaza say they were threatened with the rape of their wives.

Earlier this year, a lawyer representing Palestinian journalist Muhammad 
al-Qiq <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/muhammad-al-qiq> said that 
while Israel detained al-Qiq for months without charge, his captors 
threatened to rape him, his wife and their children 
<http://mondoweiss.net/2016/02/israeli-interrogators-threatened-to-rape-al-qiq-and-his-family-so-he-launched-hunger-strike/> 
unless he confessed to crimes. Al-Qiq was only released after refusing 
food for 94 days 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/hunger-striker-muhammad-al-qiq-welcomed-home>.

Actual sexual assaults of Palestinian men, women and children by Israeli 
soldiers are not unheard of. During the early years of the state, 
soldier sex attacks 
<http://www.haaretz.com/i-saw-fit-to-remove-her-from-the-world-1.104034> 
on Palestinians were common enough that they were a source of 
consternation <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.712125> for 
Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/david-ben-gurion>. At a government 
meeting in 1951, speaking about army attacks on Palestinians, he 
declared, “I know some of the crimes, and I must say the situation is 
frightening in two areas: acts of murder and acts of rape.”

In recent years, Amira Hass, correspondent for the Tel Aviv newspaper 
/Haaretz/, and the Israeli investigative journalist who goes by the 
pseudonym Eishton have reported on incidents in which Israeli soldiers 
allegedly raped 
<https://eishton.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/the_scot-free_penal_system/#C50> 
and sexually assaulted 
<http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-connection-between-a-pulitzer-winning-photojournalist-and-a-palestinian-housekeeper-1.399546> 
Palestinian females. And testimonies obtained by the Public Committee 
Against Torture in Israel show that Palestinian men and boys held in 
Israeli custody have also been subjected to sexual threats and sexual 
abuse 
<http://www.rhm-elsevier.com/article/S0968-8080%2815%2900096-8/abstract>.


    Sexual violence common

Recent high-profile cases reveal the pervasiveness of rape culture in 
Israel.

In April, an Israeli investigative news program revealed that the late 
Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Ze’evi was a serial rapist 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.714662> and sexual 
predator during his decorated army service, in which he reached the rank 
of general.

Last week, a currently serving brigadier general who had been slated for 
promotion was indicted for rape and sexual assault 
<http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-indicts-top-general-for-rape-shaking-top-echelons-462050> 
against multiple female soldiers. The following day, his former 
commander told Israeli army radio that the accused rapist is a “hero 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.732873>” and cited the Torah in 
defense of his alleged actions.

Admittedly, the Israeli army is taking steps to stem the rate of sex 
assaults, or at least those occurring within its ranks. Until just four 
months ago, victims of sex attacks in the army would have to shell out 
for their own legal costs, while alleged attackers would have all their 
legal fees paid for. Under a new policy, the army will pay the legal 
fees of both accused and accuser 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.706973>.

In February, the army chief’s advisor on women’s affairs sent a letter 
to all Israeli soldiers calling upon them to stop printing out regalia 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.700757> that includes 
images and messages that objectify women and make light of rape.

The army also makes mandatory for all incoming draftees an instructional 
workshop on the topic of sexual assault. However, after ultra-Orthodox 
soldiers angrily objected to the sexual content of the workshop, the 
army buckled and granted exemptions to religious troops 
<http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4604138,00.html>.

Meanwhile, Israel’s police force in recent years has seen a massive 
epidemic 
<http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/netanyahu-falsely-accuses-palestinian-youths-rape-while-ignoring-sexual-assault> 
of sex crime allegations against top cops. In May, the /Times of Israel/ 
reported 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/cop-found-guilty-of-sexual-harassment-to-be-promoted/>:

“The past few years have seen a string of sexual misconduct cases 
involving top police officers, many of whom were forced to retire due to 
the allegations against them. In all, about half of the Israel Police’s 
major generals — the highest rank below that of the police commissioner 
— have been accused of such abuse, and many of them have stepped down.”

In 2013, after Nisso Shaham, the Jerusalem chief of police, was indicted 
for sexual harassment against several women, mainly subordinates, he 
protested that it was unfair to try him for these crimes. He argued that 
his behaviors were “in keeping with the conventional norms accepted by 
the police” and that they were “routine and common 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.552561>”.

Instead of combatting sexism in the police force, the top brass seems to 
be trying to sweep the problem of misogyny under the rug.

Roni Alsheikh, national police commissioner and former deputy head of 
Israel’s domestic spy agency the Shin Bet, recently reinstated a top 
police commander accused of sexual harassment 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/cop-found-guilty-of-sexual-harassment-to-be-promoted/> 
and planned to promote another commander found guilty of harassment 
(that officer declined <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.726409> the 
appointment after Alsheikh’s announcement provoked outcry). Alsheikh 
also announced — on International Women’s Day, no less — that the force 
would no longer investigate 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.708671> allegations of 
sex crimes, unless accusers were willing to reveal their identities.


    Rape culture

Rape culture is perpetuated by the country’s political class. Dozens of 
demonstrators recently gathered in Tel Aviv to protest plans to grant 
early release 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4828819,00.html> to Moshe 
Katsav, the former Israeli president currently serving a seven-year 
sentence after being convicted of two counts of rape and other offenses. 
Katsav has often smeared his victims in the press, and has yet to either 
admit his guilt or express remorse for his actions.

The case of another politician from Kiryat Malachi, Katsav’s hometown, 
provides sobering evidence of the nearly free pass that rapists are 
often accorded in Israeli society. After mayor Motti Malka was charged 
with multiple rapes, along with his son, his deputy mayor and four other 
men, he reached a plea deal with police 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/plea-bargain-reached-with-kiryat-malachi-mayor/> 
that saw him serve no jail time at all.

In the end, Malka was not even forced to pay a monetary fine because the 
Kiryat Malachi city council had previously purchased a policy for 
“sexual harassment insurance 
<http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000853784>.” Just weeks 
later, the council invited Malka to attend 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/sex-offender-headlines-womens-day/> the 
city’s official celebration of International Women’s Day.

The army is hardly the only sector of Israeli society from which sexual 
assaults emanate. But rape culture in the military is especially 
disconcerting, as its soldiers have access to deadly weapons and the 
license to use them. And now its chief rabbi is a man who once gave 
Jewish soldiers sanction to rape Palestinian women until he was shamed 
into retracting it.

/David Sheen is an independent writer and filmmaker 
<http://www.davidsheen.com/>./


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