MK Michael Ben-Ari tearing pages from the New Testament (photo: Itamar Ben-Gvir)
According to the Israeli website NRG, MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) tore the New Testament to pieces and then threw it in the trash after the Bible was sent to all 120 members of Knesset by a man named Victor Kalish, who according to NRG specializes in publishing Christian religious texts.
In the article, Ben Ari is quoted as saying, “This abhorrent book promoted the murders of millions of Jews during the Inquisition and the autos da fé… this is an ugly missionary provocation by the Church, there’s no doubt that the book and its senders belong in the trash of history.”
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Rafael
As a native Portuguese speaker, I’d like to inform the plural of “auto-da-fé” is “autoS-da-fé”, not “auto-da-féS”.
Louis
I am surprised he did not gather them all up into a pile and set them aflame…
Ami Kaufman
@rafael – thanks. i changed.
Philos
I agree with Ben-Ari. The New Testament is so boring apart from Revelations, which is all made up. The Old Testament has genocide, infanticide, rape, murder, more rape, yet more murder, incest, stealing, seduction, genocide – did I write genocide already? I should put it twice anyway – and is just a wonderful moral allegory. Really, the New Testament is like Harry Potter whereas the Old Testament is Lord of the Rings. Although Lord of the Rings actually has a coherent moral philosophy but, hey-ho, no work of fiction is perfect.
Thomas Aquinas
Isn’t that what everyone does with junk mail?
James Bishop
Religion is ALL bullshit. On a pie chart of bullshit, the Christian religion is a huge part of the pie, but dwarfed by others. The new testament is just one artifact of the stupidity. This clown with his scrolls under his arm and the funny little hat is another. There is not a single kernel of factual basis for any of the entire circus. It all should be torn up and thrown in the ashcan.
Mr Heisenberg
I for my part like the old testament. it’s the book of the old god, the angry god, who wants sacrifices and obidience and punishs mercilessly with wrath and fire! that’s how ficional gods should behave, not like in the all hippy new testament…
SARAH
Wouldn’t it be great if instead of saying “my religion is better than your religion” we all just looked at each other and say “my religion promotes love and tolerance and generally being good to people”…
Somehow I don’t see people dropping their intolerances and abusive actions – every single one of us is too selfish and self-involved.
the other joe
As a Christian, I am saddened but not offended. If I was an elected official, I would be honoured to receive things that my constituents considered sacred.
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Moreover, when some idiot ‘pastor’ decided to burn the Koran in public, a number of us contacted our local Muslim friends with an apology, a denunciation of this act of stupidity and an offer to purchase more to make up for the loss. I don’t know much about the local Jewish community, but I do know others who have done similar things when the local synagogue suffered some other pointless sectarian damage.
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It seems to me that it is down to all of us – whatever our religion or lack of it – to promote good relations with our neighbours, to call out idiots from our own religious community when they do things in our name and to attempt to repair any damage in any way we can.
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We do not have to agree with them, but we do have to extend them the same courtesy for the things we hold sacred, otherwise what hope is there for us?
the other joe
Probably also worth saying that whoever sent the gospel was very likely a crackpot on some kind of post-millennial trip, so giving them this kind of publicity doesn’t actually help any.
aristeides
Hoping this news gets wide play among the Christian Zionists.
shahar amalia
It seems offensive to me that someone would send the New Testament to Jewish leaders. It shows a profound lack of respect.
kidane
I agree on the extreme crazyness of this man, but i also agree in many incorrect writings of the bible, either old or new testament which lead to unnecessary bloodshed, . I recommend to this man to tear-up the racist words of writings in the old testament as well.Any ways religion is crazy!!
no to religious fanatics yes to collective peace for every living soul.
Danny
He’s probably still bitter about being denied entry to the U.S. on the grounds he’s a terrorist and just a loony tune in general. This will probably not help his case the next time he applies for a visa.
sh
Puerile act, especially for a religious man. Our coalition MKs are a really classy bunch, aren’t they.
Noam W.
SH – he is not in the coalition.
Chepsky
How is sending a bible to a Jew deemed offensive?
After all we hear none stop how the Judeo-Christian world is United at every AIPAC conference. I thought the Evangelicals were all buddy-buddys with the Israeli Right Wing.
If you want to take the Old and New Testament and read it literally then you’ll find faults in both – To which even the Koran is based.
Torquemada may have been a “Christian” from the Middle Ages but he was also a SADISTIC Creep. Blaming the Bible for the death of Jews is like blaming Jesus Christ for child molesting Catholic Priests.
Mr Niemeier
He’s not the first man to be in contempt of God’s Word as Jesus Christ. The Jews have been adulterous for the entire duration of their covenant with God. The OT text, Hosea speaks to that and how God wants to change it. It’s not surprising that they just treat the story of God’s salvation for them with covered ears and eyes clenched shut and hearts like granite.
The OT speaks so overwhelmingly about the messiah and about the new covenant to follow (e.i Jeremiah 31:31..). It’s truly tragic that so few people read it with an open mind, being too ready to interpret it all in the least beneficial way, not even attempting to place it all in its context nor regarding the rest of the Scriptures.
I pray that people (including myself) would humble themselves enough to read the Scriptures for what they are saying and not for what they assume it’s saying.
Aaron
Too many clowns in politics, on both sides.
Jogortha
Michael Ben Shitty did it because he knows he’ll get away with it. Regardless of how you think about the man’s politics, it’s quite fair to say he’s a bigot.
Piotr Berman
Isn’t that what everyone does with junk mail?
No. When I get an unwanted volume of Yellow Pages, with all due respect I deposit it in “recycled paper” bin, with no gratuitous defacing.
This is a fair comparison, because Yellow Pages promote a lot of stuff, but definitely not Auto-da-fe (I checked “Auto” section), and neither does New Testament.
On the other hand, autos definitely are instrumental in vehicle accidents with many Jewish fatalities, so perhaps it is good that I got rid of those Yellow Pages.
Kolumn9
@Chepsky, sending a bible is deemed offensive if it follows a tradition of several thousand years of using the same book to justify the oppression and often the forced conversion of Jews. If you think it starts and ends with Torquemada you need to read more history. Jews have been expelled, tortured and burned all across Europe for the past several thousand years by Christians. You will forgive us if we take this kind of garbage slightly more emotionally than receiving the yellow pages.
Jeremiah
MR NIEMEIER, your reply seems like a good reason to support MK Ben-Ari’s action. You can spill your fanatic nonsense against Jews elsewhere, in Israel you’ll respect the Jews.
Will
JEREMIAH, in Israel you’ll respect the Jews or what? They’ll murder you and your children? Fire rockets at a school or a hospital? Invade your land, steal your property, and enslave your women?
Please, by all means, extrapolate on the exact nature of the threat Israel poses to all those who dare criticize them.
JEREMIAH
Will, what does this religious hateful vomit to which I replied has to do with criticism?
Anyway, if you plan to come to Israel to hurt the Jews, if I were you I wouldn’t bring my family with me.
Dan
Will, does the notion of “showing respect” to jews offend you?
Chepsky
Kolumn9
It doesn’t end with Torquemada and I never said it did. But what are you going to do? Kill Palestinian children to have revenge on history? Jews aren’t the only ethnic group history has kicked in the face.
One hears of Zionist Jews talk (Scream) about how the Allies never lifted a finger to help the Jews in WW2. Tell that to the thousands of young men torn to pieces on Omaha Beach in Normandy.
And speaking of persecution, did Bernie Madoff stop to consider the damage he might do to his fellow Jews for the 50 Billion dollar con trick? No because there is a sociopathic element in jewish culture. Talk about a walking Cliche’ – He behaved like some caricature from the 1930′s Der Sturmer magazine.
And wait for it…here comes this creepoid Michael Ben Ari ripping the Bible – Definately no Albert Einstein.
jaime
this guy is really a lunatic, does not have a place in this world, we need tolerance for everybody´s believes, wse left the darwinism long time ago, he is still in it, sorry for him
aristeides
Christianity is a missionary religion. Spreading the gospel is a divine command. The missionary mindset doesn’t see “respect the Jews” as meaning hands-off the conversion mission. It means the Jews are prime targets for conversion, being the people of the Old Testament.
You can see this as analogous to the bris dispute. To Judaism, this is a divine command. The fact that following the command might cause pain to the child is irrelevant to the imperative of the command.
To the Christian missionary, the fact that following the command might cause offense to the targets is irrelevant to the imperative of the command to spread the Word to them.
Vicky
Wow rip it up? It is the book that tells of the one who will save Jerusalem at the end of days..
Karim
It is a great insult to send them these books and I admire this man for standing up tearing it up. I think all of them should have done the same thing. If you know I don’t believe in your book, why are you then sending me. The only reason is that you see me as being on the wrong path and see my entire heritage as wrong. I would say so despite the fact that both books are nothing more than fiction for the cavemen.
NormanF
I’m proud of Michael Ben Ari!
They don’t make Jews like him any more, that’s for sure.
Jews don’t need to be lectured to by Christians to change their faith.
You go Michael and we all love you! Yasher Koach!
fw sparrow
If he was allowed into the US you could follow his itinerary by the trail of torn up Gideon bibles in his hotel rooms.
Deb Reich
The Knesset must have some committee or other that can formally censure MK Ben Ari for an act so unbecoming a legislator, not to mention the censure he should be hearing from whatever rabbi he venerates, concerning an act so totally abhorrent to the spirit of Jewish tradition as ripping up a book — any book, never mind someone else’s holy scripture. We should not have to be religious, or Christian, to be sickened by this behavior and the political calculations behind it.
the other joe
Of course, the comments above about shameful pogroms and acts against Jews are correct. But to blame the book for the actions of individuals is pretty silly.
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But then I guess if the shoe was on the other foot and the Ammonites, Caananites and others were to take offense at the Hebrew scriptures, I doubt the religious Jews would be particularly forgiving.
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Oh no, silly me, according to Deuteronomy chapter 2, these tribes were wiped from the face of the earth, so I guess there is nobody left to do any book ripping.
the other joe
Also, whether you like it or not, there are Christians who are citizens of Israel. Some (it seems to me) are very likely to be constituents of this politician.
sh
@Noam W. You’re right technically, but Ben Ari’s not exactly the opposition either. He, Marzel and Ben Gvir have been this government’s storm-troopers too often for that.
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Deb Reich hit the nail on the head. “We should not have to be religious, or Christian, to be sickened by this behavior and the political calculations behind it”. Piotr Berman
Vicky
Just in case anyone was wondering, the Vicky who posted yesterday’s comment is not me. :/
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TOJ, are you from the UK? He hasn’t got constituents as such – in Israel they don’t have an MK for Herzliya in the same way that we would get an MP for Preston. It’s not done by locality. As for Christians in Israel, a large chunk of them will be Palestinian citizens or foreign workers, and I don’t think any of them will be expecting particular respect from Michael Ben-Ari on any level. Messianic Jews also know that they’re not wildly popular in this quarter.
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Personally I think it’s distasteful (as was junk-mailing a bulk consignment of Bibles in the first place) but not worth getting worked up over. Ben-Ari has a whole catalogue of far more outrageous behaviour behind him.
Ivo
A commenter wrote: “It seems offensive to me that someone would send the New Testament to Jewish leaders. It shows a profound lack of respect.”
So does anyone insisting that the Old Testament gives rise to territorial claims in the 21st century AD.
Dregen Jelencovich
I’m going to order a few Meir Kahane books from the internet and I shall whizz on them, crap on them, set them alight, use them as coffee holders, etc.
I’ll also take pictures of me doing this and I’ll post them on a variety of websites and if I can get a hold of Michael Ben-Jackass’ email account, I’ll send photos of me having a right old laugh besmirching Kahane’s name considering the fact that our kid Mickey had such man-crush on him and still does. I’ll even put up a Youtube video.
Two can play at that game.
Daniel
This guy is clearly nuts and an idiot, but thankfully represents less than 1% of the Knesset.
JAMES
I assume that this piece of garbage will have no problem with America pulling all support from Israel since he hates Christians so much. Last time I looked, the majority of Americans practiced Christianity.
Steve Dietsch
Religious Tolerance…What a concept! And remember to “Hate Those Today” for what happen “By Those” (Now Dead)long ago! No wonder the Middle East is so screwed up…The Jews and Muslims are Religious Hate Mongers!
Mr Shabos Goy
Dan, let me answer your question to Will: The notion of “showing respect” to Jews doesn’t bother Christians at all. (I’ve done so my whole life; otherwise I wouldn’t have become a Shabos Goy.) What bothers us is that Israeli Jews do not reciprocate by “showing respect” to Christians.
How else to explain Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem spitting in the faces of Christian clergy, as reported more than once in Ha’reetz? (How often have Christians come up and spit in your face?)
How else to explain that Gentile tears for Holocuast victims are mandatory, whereas Jewish tears for Christian victims are simply not offered?
How else to explain that 20 million Christians can be exterminated in the Soviet Union and their murderers to this day retain anonymity?
Then there’s the fundamental question, In a society that calls itself civilized, why should literature from any of the world’s religions be banned or destroyed? (Short answer: it shouldn’t be.)
Dan, how come your notion of “showing respect” doesn’t seem to work both ways? Why can you spit in my face but I can’t spit in yours? Is it possible that by “showing respect” to Jews in Israel you mean Christians around the world must submit to each and every velleity expressed by organized Zionists . . . or be declared Jew Haters?
Come to think of it, Dan, why would you even want to spit in my face?
Piotr Berman
Perhaps MK Michael Ben-Ari inspired Christian fundamentalist to avenge New Testament desecration by blowing up a bus in Bulgaria?
Zach Wheat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCdfYkUPvTs&feature=related
Ari
Ben Ari has a point: the New testament and its message of love and peace is really boring.
The Old testament is so much more fun with its incitment to stone women adulterers, cut the thorat of your own child to sacrifice to G-D, kill the husband of the woman you want to sleep with…
Johan
I wonder what idiot thought that sacrificing his child was a good idea. High on grass probably. As all religious fanatics this 1 is alsonot very bright, he should burn the whole bible as it is a book of fiction. If it were true it would be forbidden by more intelligent people. All religion is superstition and a power game for money and easy money. And with that comes easy lays. That is all it is good for.
stevieb
Wow…smart man this Ben-Am.
The ‘trashbin of history’?
Oh dear, somebody’s is for a shock…
Miriam Diaz Cordova
You might want to finish it all-up by cutting the old testament, while your at it, its the same God. Sad day for you. Jewich people are normally understanding of other peoples believe but, I guest I was wrong. You are soo going to hit a brick wall, for a stop sign. Maybe you did not get the memo’ It was intended for studies, since you clame not to be a believer. It was written in ‘hebreo’ that you may get the point. You owe Christians an apology, Big-Time. Repent, ask your God; lets see what He says. <><<