Rabbis Call On New Israeli Coalition to Reexamine Relationship With the Chinese Regime

(L) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the first working cabinet meeting of the new government at the Chagall Hall in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem May 24, 2020. (Abir Sultan/Pool via Reuters), (R) Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping attends a meeting with delegates from the 2019 New Economy Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Nov. 22, 2019. (Jason Lee-Pool/Getty Images)

HAIFA, Israel—In a letter to the new Israeli coalition bloc, twenty-five rabbis called for a reexamination of Israel-China relations in light of crimes committed by the Chinese regime.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Nov. 13 tasked Benjamin Netanyahu to build the next coalition government together with nationalist and religious parties following the elections on Nov. 1.

Netanyahu has 28 days to form a coalition and 14 additional days if needed.

The 25th Knesset, the Israeli parliament, was sworn in on Nov. 16.

‘Shocking Murder Campaigns’

Among the signatories on the Nov. 15 letter are rabbis from most of the Religious Zionist denominations.

The rabbis noted that the Chinese regime is committing severe crimes against the Chinese people and against citizens worldwide. They listed the COVID pandemic that could have been restrained early on, “the terrible forced labor and re-education camps, forced organ harvesting from people while they are still alive, shocking murder campaigns against Falun Gong, against the Tibetans, against the Uyghurs, and against other minorities—all these clearly reveal the evil face of the Chinese Communist regime.”

The Epoch Times reviewed the letter that was written in Hebrew.

The rabbis said the Chinese regime strongly supports the worst of Israel’s enemies such as Iran as well as terrorist organizations.

The rabbis called upon the new coalition “to seriously examine the continuation of the cooperation with this regime in a number of critical fields, until they prove beyond any doubt they have ceased their actions.”

They specified that cooperation in the security field must be stopped, including training Chinese police, the transfer of Israeli technologies that might be used against Chinese people, and they asked that any cooperation between Israel and China that has to do with organ transplants and other medical issues should be prohibited by law.

“It is the duty of the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and by virtue of our being human beings with human morals,” to officially and publicly condemn the communist regime they said in the letter.

‘We Must Protest’

“Organ harvesting in China is a scandal like no other,” Rabbi Azriel Ariel, one of the signatories told The Epoch Times, adding that in his opinion a person should not “go for a transplant in China under these conditions.”

Azriel said Israel should not ignore these crimes when making its foreign policy. He is the rabbi of the Ateret Community in Binyamin, Samaria, and head of the Achva Center for Jewish Social Policy.

“Before everything and above everything one should be a human being,” said Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Educational Institute Ateret Yerushalayim in an interview with the Hebrew channel of NTD news.

“We are a small country, we cannot fix the whole world, but what we can do—we must. We must protest,” said Aviner. “You cannot build a country on immoral foundations.

“We need economy, we need security, no doubt, but we also need elementary morality.”

Aviner said this is not the first time he has expressed his condemnation of the Chinese communist regime.

He previously signed the international petition calling to bring an end to the regime in China at ENDCCP.com.

“We are talking about an evil government,” he said. “Chinese people are suffering so much. Millions are tormented by abuse, exile, imprisonment, and even murder.

“It is not a party, it is not a government, it is a terrorist organization, which has ruled cruelly for more than seventy years,” he said. “That is why the signatories to the End CCP petition are certainly right.”