[Avodah] Badatz Denounces Violent Demonstrations

[Meir Shinnar]

RTK
> Israel does not claim to be a "Torah" state nor are its laws the laws of  the
> Torah nor does it follow halacha in most instances nor are its judges and
> police the shoftim and shotrim of the Torah.

the RZ position has that the government has the status of melech - and
the rambam's distinction, in regards to dine nefashot, between din
torah and din hamelech applies - and the din hamelech is far more
arbitrary with fewer safeguards- with the primary concern being the
social welfare  (makin veonshin shelo min hadin..).

>>There has been much testimony
> about the many Russian policemen in Israel (some with crosses around their
> necks) ,and even the Jewish police are the lowest people in Israel, chosen from
> the ranks of the most brutal and least civilized strata of society.

This requires the strongest mecha'a - how can you publicly defame an
entire group?? policemen come from all strata of society - eg, I
believe RE Turkel mentioned his son or son in law is in the police -
and there are many fine and honest policemen.  Apparently, it is quite
all right to defame anything with the zionist entity..

I would add that there are relatively few policemen who come from the
strata that most Israelis would view as being least civilized -
haredim.... (that is the problem with group generalizations...)

>There  has
> also been much testimony on Areivim and in many other places about police
> brutality against guilty rioters and innocent bystanders alike.

Yes, there is police brutality - and I have close friends and family
in the DL camp who have been hurt in demonstrations - but one also has
to realize that this broad brush is wrong, and police brutality is not
the norm (even if some forms of activities seem to bring it out).The
police do have a difficult job - which is tough to do delicately. From
Mike Miller's posts on Ramat Bet Shemesh bet, it seems that sometimes
the problem is far more lack of police brutality, and a few more baton
swings (rather than standing by) might have helped prevent the injury
of real  innocents...


Meir Shinnar