Rabbi Menachem Froman of Tekoa, long known for his diplomatic efforts with Islamic religious leaders, has revealed a most dubious level of naiveté.
His reported endorsement (Arutz Sheva, August 31) of a State of Palestine as being “beneficial for peace” and his support for the unilateral statehood bid at the U.N. is the straw that has broken the proverbial camel’s back.
Ever since Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his terrorist Fatah joined hands with the more strictly observant terrorist Hamas, it has become clear that the Arab Spring is an Islamic Winter for Israel and that the genie of the “religion of peace” has been exposed for what it really is.
There is a concept in Islam called “takiyya”, which means “deception” to further the cause of Islam. In other words, it is permitted, even given an Islamic stamp of approval to lie, in order to fool “the Jews and the infidels”, and to hide malicious intentions for the sake of Allah.
It reminds me of a speech that Abbas’s predecessor Yasser Arafat gave in a mosque at the start of the Oslo peace process. It was a fiery presentation in which he proclaimed, “With blood and fire we will liberate you oh Jerusalem – Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!” When he emerged from the mosque, and was subsequently confronted by the Western media, he was asked, “Mr. Arafat, how can you call for jihad, or holy war, and at the same time discuss peace with Israel?”
He responded shrewdly, with that sly smile of his: “I will continue my jihad - for peace.”
This is but one example of the deception that individuals like Rabbi Froman ignore, in their misguided attempts to proclaim the unity of all religions, all the while seeming to ignore the fact that an evil ideology is evil, whether it claims to be a legitimate religion or not. A religion that in its sources specifically calls for the ambushing and killing of Jews is not worthy of the name religion.
Jihad is the highest precept in Islam and the basis for Islamic terrorism and those who tell you otherwise, are either being deceitful, are naïve, or haven’t read the Koran, the Hadith, or the Saudi Arabian educational curriculum.
Calling for a Palestinian state in the biblical heartland of Israel is a contradiction of G-d’s clear instruction to the Jewish people to protect and settle the Land of Israel. Abbas has made it clear with his assertions that “Not one Jew may remain” that a Palestinian Arab state would end all Jewish settlement within its sovereignty.
Either G-d’s instructions as described in the Torah are correct, or the Koran’s instructions to “cut off the fingertips of the unbelievers (non-Muslims)” are correct. They can’t both be correct, unless one believes in the ideology of moral relativism, that truth is relative. Furthermore, to give the radical, hateful ideology of Islam a base in our ancestral homeland would be a danger, not only to Israel, but to Western Civilization, as it would provide a central terrorist base to those, such as Hamas, who justify terrorism and indeed, give it a religious stamp of approval.
However, to give the UN statehood bid a rabbinical stamp of approval is a shocking display of disregard for the pain and suffering of the terror victims and an irresponsible show of support for those who have never abandoned their intention to drive us into the sea, whether by war, whether by terrorism, or whether by a peace that is no peace. “For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace – when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:11).
May we all merit the wisdom to recognize true peace – peace for peace - when it finally comes, but a rabbi from Judea dancing w/Islamic terrorists is not peace.