Of Davide Falcioni

Two Israeli rabbis who teach in a religious academy preparing for military service have been accused of racism and have sparked much indignation among international public opinion. Last night the commercial television broadcaster Canale 13 published clips of their lectures in which one of them declared himself convinced that Jews are genetically superior to Arabs while the other found rationality in Adolf Hitler and offered a problematic analysis of the Shoah. “We are surrounded by people with genetic problems”, said Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, of Eli's military school (West Bank). “We are racist. We believe in racism. Jews are the most successful race”, he insisted. According to Rabbi Giora Redler, Hitler had his own rationality: “He was a correct person, but on the wrong side”. “The real Holocaust is not that they massacred the Jews”, he added. “Secular culture is the real Holocaust”.

Beyond the decidedly questionable statements of the two rabbis, the policies adopted by Israel towards the Palestinians have for years been considered racist by large sectors of the international community. The government of Tel Aviv, in particular, he is accused of practicing apatheid towards Arab minorities: one of the latest episodes that have caused the most discussion and sparked a lively debate is a document distributed by the municipality of Jerusalem in all public kindergartens. In a section titled “Visitor Entry”, the document reads: “Do not allow foreigners to enter the kindergarten spaces – as a rule, entry is not permitted to minorities, in these cases you must communicate it to the area security manager". Minorities is a semi-official and universally understood euphemism in the Jewish use of the term in Israel for Arabs.