July 25, 2006

When the Chief Rabbi met Mother Theresa?

This is strange. I've seen it written that the Chief Rabbi "quoted" Mother Theresa to justify the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Here's the quote from a zionist blog:
Israel is fighting today in Lebanon because six years ago it withdrew from Lebanon."

"Israel is fighting today in Gaza because one year ago it withdrew from Gaza. And Israel discovered the terrible truth spoken by the late Mother Theresa - that no good deed goes unpunished."
Curiously, the woman reporting the event didn't notice the quote but she did comment on what the Chief had to say about Israel's withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon.
The Chief Rabbi is widely regarded as being amongst the more politically liberal-minded of orthodox Jews. That quote makes it look as if he's taken a political stance on the current war which is well to the right of the current Kadima-Labour government, and akin to that of the Likud. It comes very close to saying all the Israeli withdrawals from occupied territory were a mistake.

But then, he has something of a track record in apparently being keen to tell different groups of people what he thinks they want to hear.

My daughter commented, I don't think he's likely to say that on Thought for the Day.
Well regarding the Mother Theresa quote, Richard Bartholomew has this to say:
Mother Teresa? Claire Booth Luce, actually, but I suppose invoking Teresa serves better as an incantation to keep a guily conscience at bay. Maybe he'll whip out that bogus MLK letter next.
So, was the Chief Rabbi lying again?

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