Jerusalem – 27 Rabbis Sign Ban And Call For Event To Boycott Arab Labor

Jerusalem – Marking one month since the first bulldozer terror attack, in which three Jews were murdered by an Arab construction worker, rabbis and public figures will call for “Only Jewish Labor” in a memorial ceremony and rally at the site. The event, probably the largest one of its kind, will be held Sunday evening at 7:30 PM, on Jaffa Rd. in Jerusalem, in the area in which the attack occurred

A similar attack, carried out by an Arab worker from eastern Jerusalem driving a tractor two weeks later, ended with no deaths.

“Don’t give them guns, don’t give them tractors, don’t give them jobs.”

These and other attempted attacks by Arab workers against their Jewish employers or others have given a thrust to the campaign to employ Jewish labor in place of Arabs.

Twenty-seven leading rabbis have joined the public call for Jewish Labor, under the motto, “Don’t give them guns, don’t give them tractors, don’t give them jobs.”

The motto is an outgrowth of the “Don’t give them guns” rallying cry against then-Prime Ministers Rabin and Peres in the early years of the Oslo Accords. In the framework of the Oslo Accords, Rabin and Peres gave PA Chairman Yasser Arafat land and guns in exchange for promises of peace.

‘Enemy Raising His Head With Physical and Verbal Violence’
Posters hung and distributed at various events, such as Thursday night’s “Circle the Temple Mount Gates” monthly march – in which a record number of 6,000 people took part – explain, “The enemy is raising his head with brazenness, with verbal and physical violence, and with offensiveness to Jewish girls. The enemy is making inroads into our neighborhoods and cities, and we are giving them jobs.”

The rabbis’ petition states:

“It has again become clear that cheap Arab labor actually costs a very dear price in blood. The murderous tractors driven by Arabs of eastern Jerusalem are just the tip of the iceberg of a national problem that has long become an existential danger.

“A proper Jewish leadership would act with full force to deter terrorists, their dispatchers, and their supporters, as well as to expel enemies and take all measures to end the bloodshed in the Holy Land. Jewish leadership should also work to encourage Jewish Labor in every field, and to restore the honor of the Jewish worker.

“But even now, without a proper Jewish leadership, we must act on the individual level to stop supporting the Arab enemy. Each and every one must take at least one corrective step of teshuvah (repentance) to strengthen Jewish Labor and not to support the enemies of Israel…

“As a first practical step, we call for an end to hiring enemies to work in our houses, an end to purchasing from enemies, and not to directly employ enemies.”

Among the 27 rabbis signed on the call are: Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburg, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, Rabbi Chaim HaCohen (the Kabbalist rabbi known as the Chalban), Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevy of Karnei Shomron, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh, Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, and Rabbi Moshe Tzuriel. Rabbis Yaakov Yosef and Shmuel Eliyahu, both of whom are sons of former Sephardic Chief Rabbis of Israel, are also included.

The event will be preceded with a convoy of tractors and similar vehicles driven by Jews, under the slogan, “Jews don’t run over Jews” – a takeoff on the anti-Disengagement slogan, “Jews don’t expel Jews.”