Category Archives: Jewish Extremism

meanwhile, in israel…

By bananabrain | Published: June 4, 2010

with the flotilla imbroglio (or fiasco, if you prefer) in full swing, yours truly has just arrived back from the zionist entity, where numerous representatives of clan bananabrain continue to live as normal a life as one might expect in what hussein shobokshi of asharq al-awsat describes as “a state established on a lie based on a myth” – and he was chosen as one of the “global leaders for tomorrow” by the world economic forum in 1995, so 15 years later he must be therefore a global leader and not at all the sort of bloke to make wild accusations about a massacre of 60 people (oh, hang on, what am i saying?). i’ll write separately about the flotilla stuff when i have a moment, but i thought it might be interesting to put up a few insights that i think you’ll find interesting, based as they are on a visit on a ground and interacting with normal, sensible [well, members of my family at any rate], well-educated israelis as well as a range of other social observations.

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Also posted in Civil Rights, Democracy, Freedom of Religion, International Affairs, Israel/Palestine, Politics | 13 Comments

G!D the “misogynist” and other cyclical lepidopterisms

By bananabrain | Published: May 6, 2010

thanks to the delightful sonia from pickled politics, i ended up in a jolly discussion over at butterflies and wheels on feminism and religion. they seem to have closed the comments for some reason, but i still thought it was an interesting subject and thought i’d continue it here if anyone (like ophelia benson or amy clare) was interested. there are some unresolved questions. amy asks:

“Do Anglicans, even moderates, really think of G!D as a sexless being? I was under the impression that most moderate religious people still think of G!D as male. People could use the singular ‘they’ and refer to a ‘parent’ if they were really that bothered.”

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Also posted in Blogosphere, Esoterica, Ethics, Exegesis, Feminism, Hermeneutics, Human Rights, Interfaith, Moral relativism, Obscurantism, Secularism | 8 Comments

religious idiots round-up

By bananabrain | Published: April 21, 2010
 
immodest dress
a woman causing an earthquake yesterday by blatantly showing her elbows and knees

well, i expect most of us have probably heard by now that, according to the not-at-all-bonkers iranian regime, that immodestly dressed women cause earthquakes. i expect the haitians are buying their chadors as we speak. in the interests of balance, i thought it might be instructive to see which other religious figures are saying and doing stupidly daft things this week:

1. mobile phones damage your neshama

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Also posted in Esoterica, Farce, Interfaith, Obscurantism | 18 Comments

seven modest proposals for the british jewish community

By bananabrain | Published: March 16, 2010

the ferocious but charming miriam shaviv over at the jc is blogging a number of “daily proposals to transform the british jewish community” during march. i was discussing this with my redoubtable other half over friday night dinner and we thought the following might be worth submission:

1. transparency at the jewish leadership council

ok, we know who the board of deputies are. we know what it’s for. we know how it’s funded. we know how you get to be on it. we know who it represents. now, we have this new organisation called the “jewish leadership council”. on it, you have various movers and shakers, you’ve got the vc/banking/property tycoons, you’ve got the charity/safety/israel activists, you’ve got synagogue movement machers, you’ve got access, you’ve got international connections, you’ve got lords, baronesses, knights and the chair of ujs – you’ve got two women and no rabbis, for some reason. you’ve got no haredim, for some other reason. you’ve got leaders from the most broad-based and influential organisations in the community – but what are they for? clearly, this is an influential bunch of people, but who chooses them? who decided that there should be a jewish leadership council in the first place? how are they accountable? what is their strategy? what is their relationship with the board? how is it funded? i for one would like to know.

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Also posted in Activism, Antisemitism, Democracy, Education, Entryism, Environmental, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Israel/Palestine, Misc, Obscurantism, Politics | Tagged , | 6 Comments

“well, they’re a bit extreme, but they do such good work bringing people back to judaism!”

By bananabrain | Published: January 29, 2010

david t from harry’s place forwarded me this cartoon by eli valley, whose satirical strips appear monthly in the leading us jewish magazine “the forward”.

scary kiruv cartoon

scary kiruv cartoon

on reading it, i didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. on one hand, it’s a caricature of the position of the kiruv (“outreach”) organisations, but on the other hand, once you start digging into their theology, their internal politics, their fundraising activities and their influence on the jewish community and israeli politics, it’s hard not to find them scary.

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Also posted in Entryism, Freedom of Expression, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Obscurantism, Politics, Sectarianism | 57 Comments

Israel’s religious system will bring to its demise

By Guest | Published: January 28, 2010

This is a cross-post of an article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky, author of ‘The Messiah’s Donkey’, the best-seller which critiqued the Jewish Orthodox establishment.

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“A Bag of Fibs,” the classic collection of tall tales from the pre-state Palmach militia, tells of a truck driver sent from Tel Aviv to deliver a water cistern to Jerusalem. During the steep approach to the city, at Sha’ar Haggai, he slams on the brakes and the tank slips off the truck. While backing up in order to reload the tank, he falls in and drowns. Israel’s cistern is the religious autonomy that has grown within it.

In 1985 I spoke on Army Radio with Moshe Unna, then a leader of the National Religious Party and of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, which had created a world in which mixed dancing and egalitarian, socialist culture were taken for granted. In the middle of the interview, Unna suddenly grew quiet and began to cry. Eventually he said meekly that when he tried to speak to his own party, Haim Druckman would shout him down until the veteran MK was silent.

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Posted in Jewish Extremism | 22 Comments

The Stuff of Jewish Terrorism

By Guest | Published: January 8, 2010

This is a guest post by Eyal

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Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak received this week a death threat letter, warning him against the settlement freeze by the Israeli government.

“If you think of destroying the settlements, you are mistaken, and I will kill you,” read part of the letter, which has been transferred to the Shin Bet Security Service for investigation, according to Channel 10.

“I will harm you or your children, be careful,” the letter continued. “If not now, then when you are no longer a minister and have no security around you.

Two months ago, Israeli news daily, Ma’ariv exposed a book written and endorsed by prominent right-wing and settler rabbis, advocating the killing of gentiles who endanger Jews.

The article on Ma’ariv’s website (Hebrew) was correct in describing this book as “the stuff of Jewish terrorism”.

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Also posted in Terrorism | 7 Comments

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