Tel-Chai Nation

As anti-religious sentiment continues in Tel Aviv, the latest demonstration of desensitization of violence led to a rabbi who lost his family to jihadism being shoved by a protestor:

Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his wife and two daughters in a terrorist attack in April, was intentionally barged into by a passerby while praying at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning.

The passerby was caught on camera walking into Dee as he prayed in public with a lulav and etrog—palm fronds and a citron—a key ritual of Sukkot holiday, which runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6 this year.

The British-born Dee, who lives in Efrat, impressed Israelis with his faith and steadfastness after the murder of his wife and daughters, garnering national and international headlines for his message of unity in the wake of the deadly April shooting.

On Sept. 10, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen appointed Dee to the post of Special Envoy for Social Initiatives.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed shock at the footage, saying he had ordered police to “act decisively” against religious intolerance.

This represents another step down, and another major taboo. Benjamin Netanyahu condemned it:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shoving of Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his wife and teenage daughters in a terrorist shooting attack in April, while he was praying at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square this morning (Thursday).

"A protestor shoves Rabbi Leo Dee who lost his wife and his daughters in a murderous terrorist attack, just because he is wrapped in a prayer shawl and holding the Four Species in the heart of Tel Aviv. There is no limit to the hatred and insanity. Be ashamed of yourselves!" Netanyahu said. [...]

Rabbi Dee spoke to Israel National News-Arutz Shevalater about the incident.

"It was great, the tefillah (Prayer). We prayed with kavod (respect), with simcha (joy), we had about fifty people praying, and it was a lot of fun," he recounts. "We even had separate seating and mechitzot (partitions), and apparently, that's not a problem in Tel Aviv because we managed to pray with these as well," he said.

Rabbi Dee added: "There was a handful, literally five, maximum ten, people who came to disturb us, but we sang with them 'Am Yisrael Hai,' we danced with them a bit, and it didn't really disturb us that much."

"I am a community rabbi from England, and we have much worse disturbances, people talking through the davening and Torah reading, so it doesn't disturb me, whatever," he quipped.

He said that the protestors "make a loud noise, but it's insignificant, and they should be ignored. Hopefully, the mayor of Tel Aviv will see this success, and he can cancel his laws determining what the state religion is and what is allowed, and that everyone should be allowed to pray in whatever way they want, not just what the Mayor of Tel Aviv decides, and that the Supreme Court should also see that their support of him was wrong, and they should also cancel their support of this rule, and that freedom of religion is the ability for everyone to pray and worship in whatever way they want, as long as they don't harm others. We didn't harm anyone; we prayed, and it was a great tefillah."

Some surveys make clear a majority of the public - even secular - believe such interruptions are inappropriate:

A majority of Israelis believe that it is never legitimate to disturb or attempt to prevent prayers from being held in public spaces, a new survey found.

The survey, conducted by Lazar Research for the Maariv newspaper, found that 71% of the public opposes disrupting prayer services held in public spaces.

According to the data, 12% of the public believe that disrupting prayers in public spaces is legitimate if the prayers are conducted with gender segregation, and six percent think that it is legitimate to disturb or prevent prayer in public spaces and that such actions do not require justification.

Among respondents who consider themselves secular, 51% answered that there is no legitimacy for any interference in prayers held in a public space, 12% of [secular] participants claimed that it is legitimate in all instances. Twenty two percent answered that interfering with prayers is only legitimate if there is segregation between men and women. Seven percent refrained from answering.

Of course, even if that's only 12 percent of seculars, it does make clear a lot of educational mending is still required. For now, the man who shoved Dee should apologize unreservedly. Let's also remember these same leftists supposedly offended by gender segregated prayer in Orthodox Judaism have no issue with Islam's use of the same.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, Judaism, Moonbattery, political corruption, terrorism