Rabbi Urges Pig Fat on Buses to Stop Bombers
It would be easy to ridicule this idea, but if you lived in a place where every bus trip could well be your last, I suspect you'd also be grasping at straws....
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A prominent Israeli rabbi has proposed hanging bags of pig fat in buses to deter Muslim suicide bombers who may want to avoid contact with an "unclean" animal, an Israeli official said on Thursday.
The idea -- suggested by Rabbi Eliezer Fisher, a rabbinical judge, in a letter to police -- signaled the extremes to which some Israelis may be willing to go to stop Palestinian bombers who have killed hundreds of Israelis in recent years.
Judaism, like Islam, considers pigs unclean. But the ultra-Orthodox rabbi has ruled that special dispensation can be given for placing bags of lard in buses and public places in an effort to prevent attacks.
What, really, do Israelis have to lose? If an idea as "crazy" as this seems to be saves a life, it's worth it. Of course, I find it difficult to believe that a truly dedicated Islamofascist would be deterred by pig fat. Yes, pigs are unclean in both Judaism and Islam, but terrorism is not about religion as much as it is about political power.
Is this idea worth a try? Absolutely. Will it work? Doubtful. Of course, it's not as if much else has been working in Israel....
