Rabbi Calls for Israel to Exact Revenge

JERUSALEM-A prominent rabbi urged the Israeli government Wednesday to avenge the shooting attack that killed eight Jewish seminary students earlier this month, saying members of the Palestinian gunman's family should "hang...from a high tree."Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of the northern town of Safed and the son of a former chief rabbi of Israel, issued the call in a newsletter distributed to synagogues around the country."A country that really cares about its citizens should hang the 10 sons of the terrorist from a high tree," he wrote, quoting the biblical Book of Esther. The original text referred to the book's villain, Haman, who plotted to kill all the Jews in Persia before he was foiled.
In an interview with The AP, Eliyahu said he was using the reference as a "metaphor," but said he supported taking revenge against people who attack Jews. "I don't apologize for anything and stand behind everything I wrote," he said.Tensions already were high before the harsh comments by Eliyahu, a relatively mainstream rabbi.There has been a chorus of calls for revenge since the March 6 attack, in which a lone Palestinian gunman entered the library of the Mercaz Harav seminary and opened fire, killing eight young students and leaving a scene of bloodstained holy books before he was shot dead.Just after the attack, hundreds of Jewish seminarians gathered outside the yeshiva and chanted:"Death to Arabs." Days later, a group of mourners marched toward the home of the Palestinian shooter, smashing car windows before being stopped by police.
By ARON HELLER

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080326/D8VLC5LG0.html

As in the days of Noah....