The fruits of Satan's Judaism; the
act, support, and indifference to rape.
By Yossi
Gurvitz
Published
March 28, 2012
IDF colonel-rabbi implies: Rape is permitted in war
Answering
a question from a concerned reader regarding the Torah’s position on rape
during war, Colonel Eyal Qarim of the Military Rabbinate wrote nine years ago –
out of uniform – that ‘prohibitions against immorality’ are removed during war.
Is it
permitted for a Jewish soldier to rape a gentile woman during wartime? This
question – based on the biblical mitzvah of Eshet
Yefat Toar (“a comely woman”) – was referred to nine years ago
(Hebrew) by Rabbi Eyal Qarim. The questioning
party seemed anxious and worried, and wanted to know whether the iron-agemitzvah (religious
deed) is applicable to IDF soldiers today.
UPDATE: Following comments
doubting whether rape was the issue of the Rabbi’s answer, I post here the
question that he was asked:
Is it
allowed in our days [sic] for an IDF soldier, for example, to rape girls during
a fight, or is such a thing forbidden?
Rabbi
Qarim answered thus:
“The
wars of Israel […] are mitzvah wars,
in which they differ from the rest of the wars the nations wage among
themselves. Since, essentially, a war is not an individual matter, but rather
nations wage war as a whole, there are cases in which the personality of the
individual is “erased” for the benefit of the whole. And vice versa: sometimes
you risk a large unit for the saving of an individual, when it is essential for
purposes of morale. One of the important and critical values during war is
maintaining the army’s fighting ability […]
As in
war the prohibition against risking your life is broken for the benefit of
others, so are the prohibitions against immorality and of kashrut.
Wine touched by gentiles, consumption of which is prohibited in peacetime, is
allowed at war, to maintain the good spirit of the warriors. Consumption of
prohibited foods is permitted at war (and some say, even when kosher food is
available), to maintain the fitness of the warriors, even though they are
prohibited during peacetime. Just so, war removes some of the prohibitions on
sexual relations (gilui arayot in
the original – YZG), and even though fraternizing with a gentile woman is a
very serious matter, it was permitted during wartime (under the specific terms)
out of understanding for the hardship endured by the warriors. And since the
success of the whole at war is our goal, the Torah permitted the individual to
satisfy the evil urge (yetzer ha’ra in
the original -YZG), under the conditions mentioned, for the purpose of
the success of the whole.”
Wow.
Herein lies a hornet’s nest. The first is that according to Qarim, the rape of
female prisoners is not just permitted, it is alsoessential to
war; the success of the whole at war relies on it. Even Genghis Khan, who
(according to tradition) said that the best thing in the world is “to crush
your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their horses and goods
and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best” – even he, who excelled
at rape, did not see it as essential to warfare, just a satisfactory outcome.
Stalin, likewise, dismissed complaints about rapes carried out massively by the
Red Army by saying “a soldier has urges,” but he did not see it as an essential
element of military life.
Qarim
came up with a new military doctrine, which replaces Napoleon’s: an army
marches on its phallus. According to this logic, perhaps the IDF should appoint
to each unit not just a supply officer, but also a Comely Woman Officer (CWO),
to make certain no soldier is left unsatisfied.
Another
problem is that Qarim invokes here the usual apologetics of those who speak of
“Jewish morality”: he claims war is a conflict between nations, not
individuals, and that the individual has no importance at war. The raped woman
is not a woman, is not a person, has no feelings and if she feels pain it is
unimportant: she is not a woman or a person, just an individual of an enemy
tribe whose misfortune was to be captured. Furthermore, Qarim says that rape
during wartime is immoral if carried out by a rival tribe – but all Jewish wars
are, by definition, mitzvah wars.
If the rape of the defenseless is part and parcel of “Jewish morality,” it’s
not hard to reach the conclusion it is inferior to all modern morality systems.
It is also worth noting (Hebrew)
that “Jewish morality” is a by-product of German blood and iron romanticism.
Yet a
third problem is that, essentially, Qarim says there is nothing which may be
prohibited in war, if it is done “for the success of the whole.” We know that
the killing of armed combatants is permitted (this is, after all, the essence
of war), and we now learn that, for His Blessed Name, the rape of women is also
permitted. Then we must ask ourselves whether it is also permitted, for the
sake of victory, to also kill unarmed people. Children, for instance, who we have
good reason to think may seek one day vengeance for the death of their fathers
and brothers and the torturing of their mothers and sisters. The notorious book
“Torat Ha’Melekh” answered in the affirmative; it would be interesting to know
what Qarim thinks, and whether there is anything he thinks a Jewish soldier
ought not to do for victory.
But the
real problem here is that Eyal Qarim is an IDF colonel (Aluf Mishneh), and is a
senior officer in the Military Rabbinate, i.e. is in a senior position in the
IDF religious edicts apparatus. I’ve sent the following questions to the IDF
Spokesman:
1. Is the rape of women during wartime agreeable
to the IDF Ethics Code?
2. If not, why does a prominent military rabbi
promote it?
3. If not, does the IDF intend to end the service
of Col. Qarim, or bring charges against him?
4. How does the IDF Spokesman intend to deal with
the anticipated damage to its image in the international arena, resulting from
Col. Qarim’s ruling?
Frankly,
I did not expect an answer, but surprisingly enough an enraged officer from IDF
Spokesman New Media Unit called me. His official response was that Qarim was not an officer in
active service when he wrote that ruling, and furthermore that
my question “disrespects the IDF, the State of Israel and the Jewish religion,”
and hence his unit will no longer answer my questions.
I told
him that, as an Israeli citizen, I considered Col. Qarim to be a ticking time
bomb, which will blow up in the IDF’s face should a soldier rape an enemy
woman: it would automatically be seen as official policy. I told him this
happened in the past. He vehemently denied it, and wouldn’t listen.
I think
that the fact that Qarim was on hiatus at the time – earlier he was the religious
officer of a crack unit, Sayeret Matkal (commando unit) – is unimportant. What
is important is that the Military Rabbinate chose to re-call an officer who
wrote such a ruling to active service. Qarim was briefly considered a candidate
for the position of the Chief Military Rabbi. This is the face of the IDF in
2012, and this is the face of the rabbis it chooses to employ. There are
certainly more humane rabbis than Qarim; yet somehow these are not the rabbis
who are promoted.
