"…The Sanhedrin, which sits on Mount Zion in Holy Jerusalem, hereby strengthens your spirits and reduces your sorrow, as you were seized while acting for the respect of God and the nation of Israel, risking your lives for the holiness of the nation and the Land.…"
Above: Meir Ettinger, a grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane, was arrested early this month for allegedly plotting a terror attack that killed an Arab baby and his father
New “Sanhedrin” Praises Alleged Jewish Terrorists
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The new “Sanhedrin” (Orthodox Jewish supreme high court) has issued a statement in support of extreme radical right-wing Jewish settlers linked to terror attacks against Arabs and attacks against the IDF. The statement praises the extremist radicals for “risking their lives for the holiness of the nation and the Land,” Ynet reported.
The Sanhedrin – which is itself exceedingly right-wing – is not recognized by the overwhelming majority of Zionist Orthodox, Modern Orthodox and haredi rabbis.
Nonetheless, the Sanhedrin considers itself to be the high religious court of the Jewish people worldwide.
"We are happy that you pose as an example and inspiration to religious judges and all of the loyal people of Israel," the Sanhedrin’s statement, issued as a public letter to the radical "hilltop youth" West Bank settlers after 11 more of the group had restraining orders issued against them by the government.
"The Sanhedrin, which sits on Mount Zion in Holy Jerusalem, hereby strengthens your spirits and reduces your sorrow, as you were seized while acting for the respect of God and the nation of Israel, risking your lives for the holiness of the nation and the Land," the Sanhedrin’s top rabbis, Yisrael Ariel, Daniel Cohen and Yoel Schwartz wrote.
"Be strong and courageous, you and your families, in the face of persecutions and harassment,” the Sanhedrin rabbis continued. “You are blessed for being caught while engaged in your relentless and uncompromising struggle for the sake of the conquest and inheritance of Israel as per the Torah and as a mitzva.
"The Tribunal [i.e., the Sanhedrin] will endeavor to address each and every file with reference to the fearful state in which dozens of Israeli civilians are detained and interrogated, in arrests of a racist nature, administrative detention without any charges, evidence and proof,” the Sanhedrin rabbis wrote.
Ariel is a follower of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane who once was a member of the Kach Party’s Knesset list.
Schwartz was thrown out of his community in Mea Shearim after he helped found the first haredi IDF unit (apparently in part with the goal of getting military training for future terrorists).
Cohen is one of the most radical Chabad rabbis in Israel.
The Sanhedrin was cofounded by noted Chabad Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who served as its head until 2008. Steinsaltz won the Israel Prize for Jewish studies in 1988, and was honored by then-president Shimon Peres with Israel's first President's Prize for his Talmud scholarship.
But other Sanhedrin rabbis, including some affiliated with Chabad, were more extreme than Steinsaltz and after Steinsaltz resigned, radical West Bank Jewish settlers and members of the Hilltop Youth began to flock to the Sanhedrin. When the evacuation of the illegal West Bank Jewish outpost Havat Gilad happened in 2011, the Sanhedrin issued a halakhic ruling encouraging Jewish settlers to attack Israeli security forces.
"It is a biblical obligation for every person in Israel to adhere to the Land of Israel, and resist any attempt at displacement with the willingness to give up your life, just as one does when confronted by a non-Jew," the Sanhedrin reportedly wrote then.
The current crop of alleged Jewish terror cells are outgrowths of the Hilltop Youth.
The wave of anti-Christian and anti-Muslim "price tag" hate crimes are also thought to come from the Hilltop Youth community, many of whom see the Sanhedrin as the ultimate authority on Jewish law but view Chabad Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh and his disciples as their personal rabbis and inspirations.
Ginsburgh, who heads the West Bank yeshiva Od Yosef Chai, holds no official position in Chabad but is arguably one of the most popular rabbis in Israel among settlers and their supporters. His top disciples wrote the profoundly racist book Torat HaMelech, which rules the IDF can kill Arab babies during wartime if expedient to do so, because the babies will in any case grow up to hate Jews. Ginsburgh endorsed the book, which is largely based on his own writings and teachings.