Normalizing Racism: Not Jewish and Not Democratic

During the recent war, numerous rabbis and politicians openly called for the total destruction of Gaza, disregarding the lives of millions of innocent people. Foremost among them was Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, a State Rabbinical Court judge.  

Videos circulated of Rabbi Zarbiv serving in the reserves, gleefully destroying apartment buildings in Gaza with a military bulldozer. And while, like any judge, he is prohibited from engaging in political advocacy, he publicly called to “flatten Gaza” and advocated for Jewish resettlement in the Gaza Strip. Not only has he been allowed to continue his career as a state–employed religious judge, but many Israelis, including members of the government, celebrated him as a hero. In fact, his name became synonymous with the act of destroying civilian infrastructure in Gaza to the point that it was turned into a verb: lezarbev.  

Rabbi Zarbiv’s statements and actions are symptoms of where we are as a society, and how we are betraying our identity as a Jewish and democratic state. One of the most alarming bills currently under consideration in the Knesset is a proposal to reinstate the death penalty, abolished in 1954, as a mandatory penalty only for Palestinian terrorists. It would establish a racist hierarchy under which a Palestinian terrorist who murders Jews would receive the death penalty, while a Jewish terrorist who murders Palestinians would not.  

So much for the core Jewish belief that all humans are created in the Divine Image, as well as the core democratic principle that all humans are entitled to equal treatment under the law.  

For years, the Israel Religious Action Center has fought racism, especially when voiced by rabbis or rationalized through abuse of Jewish sources. We refuse to grant legitimacy to views that invoke Judaism in order to promote hatred and hostility. In 2019, for example, our efforts led to the disqualification of Michael Ben-Ari, Baruch Marzel, and Bentzion Gopstein from running for Knesset due to incitement to racism, the first such disqualification in thirty years.   

Much has changed since 2019, and tragically, racism has moved from the margins to the mainstream, becoming ever more prevalent. But that is not a reason to retreat. On the contrary, it is a reason to intensify the struggle. 

When Rabbi Zarbiv’s statements came to light, we once again chose not to remain silent. We filed a formal complaint with the Ombudsman for Judges and Rabbinical Judges. This week, our complaint was upheld. The Ombudsman determined that Rabbi Zarbiv had violated the ethical rules governing rabbinical judges and the leadership of the State Rabbinical Courts, as well as the President of the Supreme Rabbinical Court, were instructed to ensure that such statements do not recur. 

It is a meaningful step that defines the boundaries between what is permissible and what is not, and reminds us of something many seem to have forgotten: in a Jewish and democratic state, such horrifying statements cannot be tolerated—statements that call to crush, destroy, and flatten Gaza, without acknowledging that there are human beings there, created in the Image of God. 

Likewise, our attorneys continue to attend Knesset debates on the death penalty bill, making clear that it is not only undemocratic, it is also un-Jewish. Judaism is a tradition that sanctifies life, not one that celebrates death. 

We are living a chaotic reality with which it is difficult to keep pace. A reality in which extremism and racism are normalized, and intolerance and hatred are rewarded. Members of the Israeli government compete with one another for who can be more outrageous, coarse, and racist. 

In such a climate, the struggle for the values of tolerance and respect for every human being becomes both more difficult and far more essential. Precisely at this moment, we must continue to raise a strong, clear, unwavering voice that refuses to accept this reality and insists, truly insists, on a different future. 

The time has come to confront racists and those who incite, to make clear that such views and statements are neither legitimate nor normal. 

It is time for a different reality.