An American Rabbi of a modern Orthodox synagogue in New Jersey is under-fire after he wrote a blog post asking Israel to shoot Arab Israelis and Palestinian protesters.
The controversial statements by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of the Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck were posted on Friday. The article, written by Rabbi Pruzansky titled "Dealing with Savages," suggests Israel destroy Palestinian towns and uproot the Dome of the Rock.
"There is a war for the land of Israel that is being waged, and the Arabs who dwell in the land of Israel are the enemy in that war and must be vanquished," Pruzansky wrote.
The main post was deleted following mass criticism and later the Rabbi even offered a clarification. The cache link can be accessed here.
In the article, Pruzansky refers to the Palestinian supporters as "the Arab-Muslim animals that span the globe chopping, hacking and merrily decapitating." And then the Rabbi goes on to say: "At a certain point, the unrestrained behaviour of unruly animals becomes the fault of the zookeeper, not the animals."
Asking Israel to take stronger measures to restrain the 'unruly animals', he says besides killing all terrorists and demolishing their extended families' homes, Israel should go destroy entire Arab villages if more than one terrorist comes from them. All the residents of those villages, he writes, should be expelled.
He also wrote that rioters and stone-throwers should be shot with live ammunition, while journalists should be barred.
On the issue of Temple Mount that has caused quite some unrest between Israel-Palestine, the Rabbi from New Jersey says that a blanket ban should be imposed on Palestinians entering the Temple Mount for the next six months. Then he goes on to say, "Perhaps the day will come in the near future when the mosque and the dome can be uplifted intact and reset in Saudi Arabia, Syria or wherever it is wanted."
Following the mass criticism, the Rabbi was forced to delete the post and offer an apology. But he maintained, "The gist of my remarks offered suggestions on how terror in Israel could be deterred."
He also stated that the "savages" referred to in "Dealing with Savages" were terrorists such as those who perpetrated the horrific massacre in Har Nof last week.
