Leading Israeli Rabbi Says: Gays Should Die

www.rainbownetwork.com ^ | Feb 7 2002

[AdrianZ]

Rabbi Says Gays Should Die

Thursday, 7th February 2002

A leading Jewish cleric has called for homosexuals to be killed. The statements have come in the week that members of leading lesbian and gay groups are to meet Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Rabbi David Batzri told the Israeli Ma`ariv newspaper that homosexuals should be “put to death” according to Jewish religious law.

Batzri added: "Homosexuals and lesbians are not only a sickness, they are an abomination which should be removed from every city in the country, also from those districts where they feel protected, like in Tel Aviv."

Batzri’s comments have caused outrage.

Reform Rabbi Uri Regev said, "the only abomination here are the words of Batzri, and not the existence of homosexuals and lesbians, who are part of the world created by the will of God".

Batzri’s remarks follow news that members of the Political Council for Gay Rights in Israel will meet with prime minister Ariel Sharon next week. It is the first time such a gathering has taken place.

The meeting follows a discussion with president Moshe Katzav last year. PCGRI representative Menahem Shizaf said: "We see those meetings with the president and prime minister as an accomplishment and an important message to the public."

[eclectic]

Is not this the same "rabbi" who blamed most of the Jewish problems on masturbation and claimed that if not for masturbation it would be 500 million Jews alive nowadays?

[anapikoros]

Leading Rabbi... LOL. More like leading kook.

Just Googled him: First 3 hits tell me he leads "anti-mosquito" prayers, performs exorcisms and is an all round entrepeneur. The only people who take him seriously are his fellow ultra-orthodox crazies

Here's a sample from Google cache - "Holy Hands-off Job:

The Holy Land is credited with being the birthplace of all three major monotheistic religions. But in recent years, it has become a magnet for unorthodox interpretations of scripture. That's where Rabbi David Batzri of Tel Aviv, Israel, comes in. It seems that the Rabbi recently began advertising his services to a special group of sinners. He specializes in blessing designed to save obsessive masturbators from being possessed by the devil.

[ex-Texan]

Leviticus 20:13 .....

[Free the USA]

Bump List

[Kryptonite]

Homosexuals and lesbians are not only a sickness, they are an abomination ....

So far so good.

[svcw]

OK OK I know this might be a minor point but gays and lesbians are homosexuals. Gay and lesbian are their words. Homosexual is what they are: male or female. . Not lesbians and homosexuals or gay homosexual or lesbian homosexual. It is simply homosexual

[SJackson]

A leading Jewish cleric (from Israel) … Reform Rabbi Uri Regev

Funny.

[MissAmericanPie]

No way this guy is a "leading Rabbi". We also have our embarassments in the Christian faith that no one pays any serious attention to.

[Double Eagle Sword of Justice]

This Rabbi is nuts if he really believes that. I don't agree with the homosexual lifestyle choice. But I would never call for executing them. No doubt the liberals are going to pounce on this and scream about what 'homophobes' religious conservatives are. There needs to be a balance between tolerance but also rebuke for their unhealthy choice.

[SJackson]

No way this guy is a "leading Rabbi". We also have our embarassments in the Christian faith that no one pays any serious attention to.
This Rabbi is nuts if he really believes that. I don't agree with the homosexual lifestyle choice. But I would never call for executing them. No doubt the liberals are going to pounce on this and scream about what 'homophobes' religious conservatives are. There needs to be a balance between tolerance but also rebuke for their unhealthy choice.

You’re both right. He’s not a leading Rabbi (in America, yes, but reform Rabbi’s in Israel, they should have called him a left wing extremist Rabbi), and there are nut’s everywhere. And we haven’t even considered the source yet.

[Ciexyz]

btt with no comment

[jonatron]

There's no prohibition against Lesbianism in the bible. Also, the prohibition isn't against "being gay," it's against homosexual intercourse between men.

In the torah, someone can only be put to death on the testimony of two or more witnesses.

[illbenice]

Funny, hitler thought the same way. What is next, leading Rabbi calls for the extermination of palistinians?

[Hila]

And it is no embarrasment: Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death."

[Holden Magroin]

Just Googled him: First 3 hits tell me he leads "anti-mosquito" prayers, performs exorcisms and is an all round entrepeneur

Sounds like the Constitution Party's spiritual counselor.

[Hila]

Yes, there is, lesbianism is prohibited: read Romans 1:22-32. "Even their females exchanged the natural use for what is against nature". (verse 26) "that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them". (verse 32).

[Hila]

While we do not want the fornicating people to die, they are already dead in their trespasses!