Israel Hess (April 26, 1935 – September 27, 1997) was an

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. On February 26, 1980, ''Bat Kol'', the student publication of Bar-Ilan University, published an article by Hess titled "

Genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

: A Commandment of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

" (also translated as "The Mitzvah of Genocide in the Torah") in which, according to Karen Armstrong, he argued that the Palestinians "deserved the same fate as the Amalekites". The article is an explanation of the commandment in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

25:17 to "obliterate the memory of Amalek". According to Eric Yoffie, Hess wrote that this "requires the killing of babes and sucklings, and forbids the showing of mercy". According to David Hirst, Hess wrote that "the day will come when we shall all be called upon to wage this war for the annihilation of Amalek" in order to ensure "racial purity" and because of "the antagonism between Israel and Amalek as an expression of the antagonism between light and darkness, the pure and the unclean". In response to the article, the president of Bar-Ilan Rabbi

Emanuel Rackman Rabbi (Menachem) Emanuel Rackman ( he, מנחם עמנואל רקמן ''Menachem 'immanuel Raqman''; June 24, 1910 in Albany – December 1, 2008) was an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi, president of the RCA, vice-president of Yeshiva University. P ...

, dismissed Hess from his position at the school. In 2004, Shulamit Aloni, writing in ''Haaretz'', said of Hess' article, "It's no coincidence that in the settlements the Palestinians are called 'Amalek', and the intention is obvious to everyone".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Israel Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Israeli rabbis 1935 births 1997 deaths Racism in Israel