Darkness according to Bogie Ya'alon - David Rubin

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by David Rubin

Please enlighten us, Bogie. Explain to us Religious Zionists why freedom to choose is backward.

If we could only be as enlightened, as progressive, and as new-worldly as is Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon (Blue and White party candidate). 

In the spirit of his particularly incongruous, new-Israeli form of political correctness, the former defense minister has leaped on the Liberman bandwagon, adding his name to the list of critics of the dark, primitive nature of Religious Zionism.

Calling for the dismissal of Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz (Jewish Home) for endorsing the possibility of conversion therapy for homosexuals, the ostensibly liberal Ya’alon is insisting that those who allow and even help current practicing homosexuals to try to choose a different path are somehow backward. Forgetting that liberals are supposed to believe in freedom, he would, nonetheless, deny the individual’s right to freely choose therapy, and if so, what form of therapy he or she wants. 

And what is the reason to oppose the right to receive such therapy? Because, in some cases, the treatment could possibly lead to a return to heterosexual behavior. Ya’alon goes on to emphasize that Religious Zionism (or at least part of it) is to blame for allowing that horrible choice. 

According to Ya’alon’s worldview of Religious Zionism,

“There are parts there that are politicized, where everyone tries to be extreme about women, in relation to LGBT. This is what I call the process of darkness of the State of Israel."

Please enlighten us, Bogie. Explain to us why freedom to choose is backward. Please also teach us primitives why it’s not healthier for Jewish family life to have a father and a mother. But don’t you worry. We don’t have to discuss the extensive research carried out over many years in secular society that shows the value of the traditional family for a meaningful and productive life, not to mention the similar studies that show that those in traditional, intact families are happier, even if they don’t try to influence reality with semantics by calling themselves “gay”.

Are we “extreme” to believe the words of our Tanach, the Jewish Bible, that certainly makes it clear that a healthy society is based on marriage between a man and a woman? Yes, I know, the Greeks and the Romans had different norms of family life, dress, and spirituality, but we are not Greeks or Romans, and we have survived. 

Your declared support for same-sex marriage as the new equal standard for Israeli society does not make you a more enlightened person than those of us with old-fashioned values, who proudly believe in G-d, in the traditional family, and by the way, in the complete Land of Israel. 

And while we’ve diverged onto that topic, many of us remember well your passionate support for the only new city or town to be built in Judea or Samaria during your term as defense minister – the Arab city, Rawabi, that you speedily granted permits for in order to create “Palestinian” contiguity in Samaria, thereby choking the few neighboring Jewish communities that have been seeking permission to grow for many years.

For the sake of honesty, as you run for office in these upcoming elections, don’t repeat your empty promises about preserving the “settlement blocs”, while at the same time, suffocating the thousands of Jews that don’t live in blocs.

In short, don’t preach to us about the values of Zionism and certainly, don’t preach to us about Judaism and its moral values. We will continue to love all Jews, whatever their political views, and yes, whatever their sexual orientation, and will show empathy and try to assist them, as did Rabbi Peretz, in whatever challenges they face. But we will also raise up the flag, unapologetically, as Religious Zionism always has, of the traditional family, which is indeed, the bedrock of our existence. 


David Rubin, former Mayor of Shiloh Israel, is the author of the new book, “Trump and the Jews”. Rubin is the founder and president of Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, established after he and his then three-year-old son were wounded in a terror attack. He can be found at www.DavidRubinIsrael.com or at www.ShilohIsraelChildren.org

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24162

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