Victor Gordon, Pretoria
Why in Heaven’s name (forgive the pun) would he see fit to use a platform so inherently hostile to the State of Israel to highlight his personal frustrations with the age-old dispute surrounding the practise of Judaism within the Jewish State?
There is no need for rocket science to appreciate that the slightest understanding of the nuances surrounding this particular debate, will surely not exist on this particular platform.
The ANC cannot be further removed from the existing divisions between the ultra-Orthodox (who call the shots when it comes to the acceptable practise of the Jewish religion in Israel) and the Reform movement, who have been fighting for the accommodation of their viewpoint of Judaism, for decades.
When it comes to this debate, we’re stuck in centuries of dogma over which the ANC is probably the very last body on earth to exert any meaningful influence. Aren’t they still battling to define the meaning of “white monopoly capital” which is far closer to home?
What was the esteemed rabbi thinking when he claimed to be only speaking for a “minority within a minority”?
Did he really believe that this would be sufficiently clear to his audience in order to remove him from his damaging assertions about Israel, which would inevitably be pounced upon by a gleeful ANC, eager to propagandise it in support of their own particular context?
The fact that the Chief Rabbi was not invited to deliver a prayer (or even attend) shows that the ANC knows where to turn when its bread needs buttering; and Rabbi Shaked did not disappoint.
Needless to say, when the ANC/BDS/JVJP, etc, need a suitable slogan with which to falsely accuse Israel of “universal religious intolerance”, one has been supplied and verified by no less than an Israeli rabbi.
You, Rabbi Shaked, may be an incredible rabbi but, sadly, a poor judge of politics. Israel’s enemies will be eternally grateful.
