Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

John Kerry ‘Haman’ Slur Earns Rabbis Rebuke From Rabbinic Groups

Two leading American Orthodox bodies rebuked a group of Israeli rabbis who warned of divine retribution against Secretary of State John Kerry.

“While the people of Israel and Jews around the world may properly possess serious concerns about proposals Secretary Kerry is putting forth, such concerns must only be expressed with civility and on the substance of the issues, not degenerating into personal venom and threats,” said a statement posted Feb. 5 by the Rabbinical Council of America and the Orthodox Union.

The two Orthodox groups were responding to a letter put out by the Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel.

The committee’s letter likened Kerry to Nebuchadnezzer, the Babylonian king who destroyed the First Temple, and warns him to “immediately halt this process of destruction,” referring to his peace push, in order to “prevent heavy divine retribution, God forbid, on all those associated with you.”

A statement on the committee’s website says “dozens” of rabbis signed a letter to Kerry but names only five, affiliated with various Israeli municipalities.

“The letter of the ‘Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel’ may represent the views of its signators,” the RCA and O.U. statement said. “It does not represent ours.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.