Channel 12 exposes ally of PM Netanyahu

Rabbi Meir Mazuz: Supreme Court Justices are beasts and mosquitoes

February 17, 2020: Channel 12 exposes the greatly esteemed Rabbi Meir Mazuz attacking the Israeli Supreme Court. This is the very same rabbi that PM Netanyahu courted for support before the Likud primaries!

18/02/2020 22:00

Tags: Meir Mazuz ·  Benjamin Netanyahu ·  Supreme Court

Rabbi Meir Mazuz being consulted, source: Wikipedia

Rabbi Mazuz’s (one of the leading ultra-Orthodox Sephardic rabbis in Israel*) recently aired barrage against the Israeli Supreme Court brings to mind the 1999 assault on the Supreme Court by the late Rabbi Ovadya Yosef (the former Chief Rabbi and subsequent leader of the Shas ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party). Back then, the State also took his attacks as nothing more than par for the course, just as it usually does when such extreme delegitimization cloaks itself in religious garb and is closely aligned with political powers. It was Rabbi Yosef who then led the mass demonstration (estimated at ~250,000 ultra-Orthodox participants, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel) across from Israel’s Supreme Court:

“They call themselves a Supreme Court? They are not worth anything. They should be placed in a ‘Low Court’. It’s because of them that God created all the miseries of the world. Everything that ‘Israel’ (the Jewish people) endures is only on account of these evil ones. They are worthless and reckless. ‘A handmaid that claims to inherit her mistress’ (Prov. 30:23). Who elected them? Who made them judges but the Minister of Justice – a foe and enemy. He loves them, and he recommended that they should be appointed by the President as judges. What, did they have elections? Who said the people want such evil judges? They are all wayward and defiant. They don’t have faith or [religious] law. They all have sexual intercourse during menses. They all desecrate the Sabbath. These are going to be our judges? Slaves now rule us.”

The rotten fruits of the unholy alliance between religion and politics can also be seen in the current case. On the one hand, (as this photograph shows) the Prime Minister courted Rabbi Mazuz, seeking his endorsement, knowing his political weight in Sephardic ultra-Orthodox circles. Now, when Mazuz spoke out publicly in such a grievous and criminal manner against the Supreme Court, and his pronouncements were welcomed and supported by ultra-Orthodox circles for whom the State, civil courts in general, and the Supreme Court in particular are an anathema, PM Netanyahu’s office only saw fit to respond:

“[He] believes in and respects the courts and the things Rabbi Mazuz said are not connected with him in any way.”

Namely: PM Netanyahu, who is known for his sharp tongue and harsh criticisms he expresses against those whose positions he does not accept, doesn’t utter one word of condemnation against Mazuz’s words. He limits himself, attempting to distance himself from the garbage that spews forth from the mouth of the rabbis whose endorsement he has only recently sought. The Prime Minister’s empty response is striking in its substanceless in comparison to the compelling reaction of the Court’s spokesperson:

The Court views the obscenities uttered by Rabbi Mazuz against the Supreme Court of Israel and its Justices with great severity. His blunt words merit every denunciation.

“The Court views the obscenities uttered by Rabbi Mazuz against the Supreme Court of Israel and its Justices with great severity. His blunt words merit every denunciation. It is regrettable that a rabbi that one might expect to be committed to working towards unity and societal harmony, opts for gutter language and inciting and divisive rhetoric.”

These words should have been voiced by the prime minister, the justice minister and the entire government - but politics is poisoning every decent area of life, and their obsequiousness towards those who appointed themselves to be the spokespeople for God and undermine democracy; the rule of law; and Zionism – results in self-muzzling for fear of endangering their ability to buy their votes, rather than muzzle the mouths of hoodlums like Rabbi Mazuz. (to remove any doubts, we should stress that it is clear to us that this lowering of the volume and reducing the pronouncements of Blue & White’s leaders, in spite of the strong and explicit promises in the party’s own platform on matters of religious freedom, is also connected with the misguided and naïve hope that Blue & White may be able to attract the votes of the Haredi parties.)

Now the text of Rabbi Mazuz, as it was broadcast on television:

“We have a Torah that is unparalleled in the world. But we have some beasts that sit there in the Supreme Court about whom King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes: ‘may they see that they themselves are but beasts’ (Ecc. 3:18). What is a ‘beast’ (‘be-hei-mah’ is read by Mazuz as an acronym of: ‘Beit ha-Mishpat ha-Elyon’ – the Supreme Court)? The Supreme Court – they are beasts. They don’t know Torah, nor wisdom, nor civility, nor respect towards the people, nor respect towards a tradition that has persisted for 4,000 years. They don’t know anything. You are going to fight the Torah?! A band of mosquitoes. A band of dogs. A band of beasts fighting the Torah. Who does such a thing? Nobody is doing such a thing. It’s time that they be taken to a mad house and told, ‘Sir, your place is not here – not in the Supreme Court. Go to the mad house, and there you will engage in sophistry. Mr. W will split hairs with Mr. X, and Mrs. Y will split hairs with Mrs. Z…’ There you can talk forever; it’s all just hot air. Our Torah will prevail in spite of you and your wrath after you go hellish-hell…”

The lenient attitude of Israeli authorities towards exceptionally harsh pronouncements against Israel’s civil courts and law enforcement system causes further deterioration and escalation of such assaults, as well as severe, ongoing harm to Israel’s rule of law. This undermines the foundations of Israeli democracy and increases its vulnerability.

Footnotes

*Rabbi Meir Mazuz heads the Kisse Rahamim (“Seat of Compassion”) Yeshivah institutions. They include boys’ Torah schools, a school for girls, the Ateret Rachel Seminar in B’nei Brak, Jerusalem, El Ad, Emanuel, Bat Yam, Akko, and more. Some 1,500 students study in these institutions. He’s also politically active in the ultra-Orthodox Sephardic sector, and he delivers a weekly Torah lecture on an ultra-Orthodox Sephardic radio station.

*Hebrew links: #1 and #2