Israel-based Kabbalist Rabbi David Batzri and his son Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri oppose a Jewish-Arab primary school that has existed in the Pat neighborhood of Jerusalem for nine years. The school is seeking to expand, and the mystical Rabbis Batzri organized a meeting to stop the expansion. Here is part of what they said, as quoted by Ynet:
At the conference, the elder Batzri told Pat residents: “The establishment of a school like this one is a
despicable and impure act. Stand in the way and prevent this. Darkness and light cannot be mixed. The people of Israel are pure and Arabs are a nation of asses. The question must be asked, why didn’t God give them four legs, because they are asses.”
The son, Yitzhak Batzri, also made objectionable comments. “The Arabs are beasts and asses,” he said. “They are inferior, they want to take our daughters. People say we are racist, but – they are the evil ones, the cruel ones, the scum of snakes. This is war.”
Israel is preparing to indict the rabbis. This type of speech, disgusting as it is, should not be prosecuted – unless violence is be linked to it, as it so often is.
Ha'aretz adds the following bit of theodicy from the Batzris:
[Hat tip: Minnesota Twin.]Batzri also said the outbreak of bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages.
"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Batzri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.
Batzri said he hoped the deaths of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens would help atone for what he called the sins of left-wing political parties, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri told Reuters a week before the Knesset election.
The bird flu outbreak stemmed from far-left political parties "strengthening and encouraging homosexuality," Batzri's son quoted him as saying.