Israeli Army’s Choice for Military’s Chief Rabbi Sparks Controversy

Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim, the Israeli army’s choice for the next chief rabbi of the military, is finding himself in trouble over comments on women, gays and prisoners. After his selection was announced, women’s groups issued statements he had made in the past permitting the rape of non-Jewish women in wartime. Karim apologized for those comments, and said that his original statement referred to Biblical times but not to today, but other statements that came to light today sparked new controversy. He ruled that when a military order contradicts Jewish law, a soldier is allowed to refuse the order. In another case, in 2003, he said that suicide bombers who are wounded must be killed. An Israeli soldier is currently on trial for shooting a Palestinian terrorist after he was wounded. He also said that women cannot testify in a religious course because her “sentimental nature” does not allow her to withstand cross examination. In perhaps the most controversial of the new statements, he called gays and lesbians “sick and deformed” and said they “must be helped to escape their situation, with a lot of sensitivity and
patience.” The Israeli army is known as being tolerant on admitting gay soldiers, who are drafted like all Jewish Israelis.