A leading British rabbi has criticized Israel as the "last colonial power in the world" and posed the question of whether it is time for Judaism and Zionism to "go their separate ways."
Agencies cited a report by the London Jewish Chronicle, in which Rabbi David Goldberg said that many Jews faced a "crisis of conscience."
The rabbi slammed the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying that anyone who believed that Sharon and a Likud government would willingly cede an inch of land "must also imagine that the present Pope is a Jew who will sanction birth control and married priests."
Israel occupies huge swathes of Palestinian land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and has flouted the 1993 Oslo peace accords throughout the 1990s by "settling" the conquered land with tens of thousands of Israelis.
All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law by nearly every government in the world, including successive US administrations.
The rabbi from St. John's Wood Liberal Synagogue in London warned it was a "pivotal moment in Israeli-Diaspora affairs" when Jews were being called upon to support the Zionist regime, which had "long since vacated the moral high ground."
Some would say the time had come for Judaism and Zionism to go "their separate ways," the rabbi suggested – Albawaba.com
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