Israeli Rabbi blesses spy sex stings
Last week, ABC News reported that Rabbi Ari Schvat ruled in a study by the Zomet Institute that it was okay for female Mossad agents (Israel’s foreign secret service) to have sex with the enemy during sting (aka. “honeypot” or “honeytrap”) missions.
Israeli intelligence has often used sex stings in the past in order to lure enemy operatives or terrorist suspects, such as the 1966 operation in which a female Israeli spy used sex to entice an Iraqi MIG pilot to defect…along with his aircraft!
So the fact that the Israeli government uses this tactic in their national interests is nothing new or shocking (one would have to be supremely naive to believe that almost every other government, including our own, does not use similar tactics!). What is disturbing, however, is the appropriation of the Bible in order to bless such operations. In order to justify his ruling, Rabbi Schvat appeals to the Biblical book of Esther:
“Queen Esther, who was Jewish, slept with the Persian king [Ahasuerus] around 500 BC to save her people.”
Anyone even remotely familiar with the story of Esther (or anyone who’s even celebrated Purim!) can see the stretch the Rabbi is making in this comparison.
But even more disturbing is the Rabbi’s caveat for female spies who are married who are used in sex stings…[continue to JM’s article]
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Political/Social issues, Theological issues