Let's re-write a Ha'aretz article!

Today, I though that it would be fun to re-write an article published by the "liberal" Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. Here is the original (excerpt):


Yesha rabbinical council chief: Don't rent houses to Arabs
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent

The chairman of the Yesha rabbinical council and chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Dov Lior, on Wednesday issued a halakhic ruling stating that it is forbidden by Jewish law to employ Arabs or rent homes to them.

In an interview published by "Eretz Israel Shelanu" (Our Land of Israel), to be distributed this Saturday in various synagogues, Lior said that "since this is a matter of endangering souls, it is clear that it is completely forbidden to employ them and rent houses to them in Israel. Their employment is forbidden not only at yeshivas, but at factories, hotels and everywhere."
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Ok. Now keep in mind that about 20%+ of the population of Israel is composed of Arabs, including Christians and Druze. With that in mind we can now rewrite the article and transpose it to some other places:

Iran:

The chairman of the Conference of Islamic Scholars of the city of Qom, Hojatoleslam Sayyed Ali Ansari, on Wednesday issued a fatwa stating that it is forbidden by sharia law to employ Jews or rent homes to them.

In an interview published by "Our Land of Persia", to be distributed this Saturday in various mosques, Ansari said that "since this is a matter of endangering souls, it is clear that it is completely forbidden to employ them and rent houses to them in Iran. Their employment is forbidden not only at seminaries, but at factories, hotels and everywhere."

Russia:

The chairman of the Conference of Orthodox Bishops of the Russian Federation, Metropolitan Vladimir, on Wednesday issued a statement stating that it is forbidden by Orthodox canon law to employ Jews or rent homes to them.

In an interview published by "Our Land of Russia", to be distributed this Saturday in various churches, Metropolitan Vladimir said that "since this is a matter of endangering souls, it is clear that it is completely forbidden to employ them and rent houses to them in Russia. Their employment is forbidden not only at seminaries, but at factories, hotels and everywhere."

You get the idea: this great little article lends itself to any number of funny variations involving not only Jews, but any other ethnic group, each time with the same outrageously racist result. Let's try one more, just for fun, this time in the USA:

The chairman of the Conference of Baptist Ministers of the Southern United States, Pastor Joe Sixpack, on Wednesday issued a statement stating that it is forbidden by the Bible to employ Blacks or rent homes to them.

In an interview published by "Our Land of America", to be distributed this Saturday in various churches, Pastor Joe said that "since this is a matter of endangering souls, it is clear that it is completely forbidden to employ them and rent houses to them in America. Their employment is forbidden not only at seminaries, but at factories, hotels and everywhere."

Again, an absolutely outrageous statement, is it not?

I can just imagine how a endless stream of outraged protests would result from any of the statements above, how they would make front page news, how international human rights would express their idignation and outrage at such truly medieval racism, how the governments of the countries were such racists remarks would be made would immediately condemn the people reponsible and how they would strongly denounce any such expressions of crass bigotry.

In any country, except for Israel of course. Makes you wonder why, does it not?