Ramallah: The soon-to-be Israeli military chief rabbi Eyal Shlomo Karim apologised on Tuesday for his earlier edict permitting Israeli soldiers to rape non-Jewish women during the time of war.
“There is no licence in times of peace or war to sexually assault women,” rabbi Karim was quoted as saying after he was summoned to Israeli army’s manpower directorate where he was strongly rebuked.
The controversy erupted after the surfacing of Eyal’s earlier comments in response to a question about women and war. Israel often describes its occupation forces as “the most moral army in the world”.
Right wing Jewish parties have advised Karim to disavow his edict saying that without a public statement to that effect, he cannot become the military chief rabbi. His predecessor rabbi Israel Weiss said “Karim needs to realise that he is the head rabbi of the Israeli army and behave accordingly. These statements do not represent him at all.”
Karim said in his edict that Israeli soldiers are permitted to rape non Jewish women at the time of war as part of maintaining fitness for the army and the soldiers’ morale. “It is permitted to breach the walls of modesty and satisfy the evil inclination by lying with attractive gentile women against their will, out of consideration for the difficulties faced by the soldiers and for overall success,” reads the edict.
“This edict is a serious slip for the Israeli chief rabbinical authority and a mere racist crime where Karim’s apology is an undeniable indictment against him,” said Adnan Abu Rabei, who heads the Popular Committee in support of Palestine inside the Green Line.
Rabbi Karim has targeted the Arab [Palestinian] woman in his edict, permitting Israeli soldiers to rape gentile women during wartime, alleged Abu Rabei. Almost every war Israel has fought has been against Arabs.
“By gentile woman [Eyal] means Arab Palestinian woman as the Israelis believe they are in a state of war with the Palestinians,” he said.
“Karim could apologise for days on end, but that would not eliminate his thought and belief,” said Abu Rabei.
“This permission from the chief military rabbi will surely motivate the soldiers to commit rape,” he said. “All the Israeli institutions should carefully study and assess the possible implications of this edict.”
