New York – In response to the recent reported events of Israeli extremists vandalizing an Islamic mosque in the Galilee village of Tuba-Zangariyye, the following statement was issued by Dr. Simcha Katz, president, and Rabbi Steven Weil, executive vice president, of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America:
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We condemn the reported acts of vandalism, in which Israelis are alleged to have entered a mosque and set fire to it, destroyed holy objects and wrote hateful graffiti messages on the walls. There is no justification for such actions.
Jewish synagogues and holy sites, in Israel and across the globe, have been similarly vandalized and desecrated over the course of history and, thus, Jews should know very well that such actions are beyond the pale.
We support the efforts of the Israeli authorities to investigate this matter and bring those responsible to justice.
That’s the minimum that could be done.
Americans, stop funding these extreme right wing lunatics.!!!
This is beyond humanity!!! Huge chillul hashem!!! These thugs need to captured ASAP!!!
There are many cases where acts of violence have been conducted in a manner that framed innocent people – or groups of people. Just because someone is capable of spray painting “price tag” in Hebrew doesn’t prove anything.
Imagine convicting someone of a crime because the true criminal wrote their name. That would be careless (to say the least). We also remember the Mohammed al Dura video where Israel was wrongly accused of killing. Israel’s innocence was proven in a French court.
Remember, generally, when someone (or a group) is accused of a wrongdoing, we should wait for clear proof that a specific person committed the crime. All the more so as we approach Yom Kippur.
G’mar Chasima tova.
It may be possible that this is a setup to frame right wingers………
It may have been done by left wingers or Palestinian thugs…….
Lets not jump to conclusions……
Does such a condemnation apply only to the acts of certain private individual pogrom makers, or does the OU believe it also applies to the collective power of the army of the State of Israel when it destroyed two dozen mosques in Gaza? I don’t understand the logic………
The OU should go back to giving kosher certification on halva and jelly rings and stay out of politics. No one cares what they say