Flug: We thought it wouldn't happen here
Photo: Sasson Tiram
Survivors to rabbis: Nazis wouldn't rent to Jews
Chairman of Holocaust survivors' association condemns letter signed by rabbis, which prohibits rental, sale of property to non-Jews. 'I remember Nazis throwing Jews out of apartments to create ghettos,' he says
Chairman of the International Association of Holocaust Survivors Noah Flug on Thursday inveighed against a ruling by rabbis prohibiting the rental of homes to non-Jews. "These rabbis need to retract their statement," Flug told Ynet.
Dozens of municipal rabbis signed a letter Wednesday saying that Jewish halacha forbids renting or selling property in Israel to non-Jews.
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The document, which contains over 50 signatures of haredi and National-Religious rabbis serving municipalities from Metula to Eilat, is scheduled to be published in religious newspapers and synagogue leaflets this weekend.
Flug says he was shocked by this revelation. "As someone who suffered as a Jew and underwent the Holocaust, I remember the German Nazis throwing Jews out of their apartments and city centers in order to create ghettos," he said.
"I remember how they wrote on benches that no Jews were allowed, and of course it was prohibited to sell or rent to Jews. We thought that in our country this wouldn't happen. This is especially difficult for someone who went through the Holocaust."
Holocaust survivor Alex Orly told Ynet that "There cannot be discrimination in Israel today, after its founders suffered such horrible discrimination in Europe," he said.
"The government must come out with a cry against this, the prime minister's condemnation is not enough. Arabs are citizens of this state. We must give them civil equality or we cannot call ourselves a liberal democratic state."
Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum also released a statement condemning the letter, calling it "a severe blow to the basic values of our lives as Jews and people living in a democratic country".
"Past experience teaches us how important yet fragile are our basic values of coexistence and respect for the other. We know that the Jewish people, who knew suffering and persecution and experienced excommunication and the negation of basic rights, has expressed its position on these issues," the statement said.
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