A book by hardline Israeli rabbis
justifying the murder of non-Jews will not have to face charges of
inciting violence, the Jerusalem High Court said.
Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post
reported Thursday that the court ruled there was “no basis” for the
charges, upholding a 2012 decision by Israel’s Attorney General to not
pursue a criminal investigation.
The Torat Hamelech (The King’s Torah)
was published in 2009 and sparked controversy and a debate on free
speech by arguing that Jewish law allowed, in some cases, for Jewish
people to kill non-Jews without being to court.
According to The Jerusalem Post,
the book states that anyone who opposes “our kingdom” or encourages
attacks against them can be killed, as can children “if there is a good
chance they will grow up to be like their evil parents.”
The Attorney General’s 2012 decision
argued that the book was a religious study and not aimed at encouraging
individuals to violence, despite concern within Israeli society that it
could lead to violence against Palestinians.
Several Jewish groups objected the
groups, as did senior Rabbis, including the Israel Movement for Reform
and Progressive Judaism, which petitioned the High Court to question why
there have been no investigation for racial incitement.
Israeli blog Reform Judaism, which supported the petition, wrote in 2012 that the book was “a manual on how Jewish law can justify hate and violence.”
“When the Mufti of Jerusalem gave a
sermon about killing Jews, the State opened a criminal investigation in
less than a week,” the blog wrote. “When rabbis widely distribute their
manual for violence to the masses, the State remains silent.”
The original source of this article is Middle East Monitor
Copyright © Middle East Monitor, Middle East Monitor, 2015
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