Jewish extremists put ancient death curse on Sharon
AFP
Date: 07-26-05
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Jewish extremists opposed to Israel's looming pullout from the Gaza Strip have dipped into ancient ritual to put an Aramaic death curse on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a news website revealed.
In a cemetery ceremony presided over by a rabbi, around 20 radicals held a "pulsa dinura", which means rod of fire in Aramaic, imploring God to curse a believed sinner, said the online edition of the Yediot Aharonot.
The ancient Jewish rite was presided over by rabbi Yossef Dayan at dawn on Friday in the ancient cemetery of Rosh Pina, in the northern Galilee region.
As befits tradition, only those who are married, meaning no widowers or divorcees, people aged over 40 and the bearded were able to attend the event, Dayan was quoted as saying.
The group urged "the angels of destruction" to kill Sharon, participants said, stressing that a human assassination attempt on the prime minister was "futile" given his massive security protection.
The ceremony took place near the grave of Shlomo Ben Yossef, a member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish movement Beitar, who was hanged in 1938 under British mandate Palestine for taking part in an attempted attack on an Arab bus.
Baruch Ben Yossef, one of the participants, said the spot was ideal.
"He is Sharons antitheses. Ben Yossef sacrificed his soul for the people of Israel, while Sharon is robbing the nation. We hope the Lord will take him from us," he was quoted as saying by the website.
Far-right Israeli activists also held a "pulsa dinura" to pray for the death of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, a few days before the prime minister was assassinated by a Jewish extremist for trying to make peace with the Palestinians.
Dayan read out the curse at the ritual.
Source
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