A lesson from an Iranian

Ynet has a strongly biased article on Rabbi Lau's candidacy for President of Israel. That's to be expected from Ynet, but some of the hateful rhetoric went a little overboard. Some choice excerpts:

The presidency is not just a job. As someone who reached the pinnacle of his public service career as chief rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau should have retired from public service and started volunteering. But he chose the material world over the spiritual and was appointed chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, a full time job.

That comment is obviously coming from someone who views being a rabbi as "just a job". Being a Rabbi is not just about a career, it's about helping those who need you. If there is a need for him in Tel Aviv, there is absolutely nothing wrong with him being Rabbi there. They're really reaching, I mean, if this is the best they got he should be a shoo-in.

The next two paragraphs include these 2 gems:

Israel's president must reflect the image of the Jewish people and must represent the entirety of it. Even if we speak the same language, Rabbi Lau doesn't even come close to representing me. Not because he's religious, but rather because during all his years of public service, he may have thrown a few sweet words towards the secular community, but he took no brave public steps to resolve the religious-secular conflict or the crisis over Jewish identity.

Immediately followed by:

Rabbi Lau showed no leadership, and never dared clash on a practical level with the sickos in the religious world.

Ahh, okay. Nothing against the religious. The hate is just bleeding through. Keep in mind, he started the article stating that:

Not that I have anything against religious people, quite the opposite.

Yeah.

Some more:

Rabbi Lau is not corrupt, but he has taken (apparently not insignificant) payment for officiating at weddings. This makes me, and many others, sick. As part of some research I conducted for the Tzohar organization (a group of
rabbis that conduct weddings free of charge) I found that most people feel rabbis should not charge for performing weddings because it is a mitzvah to do so.

As a comment on the site pointed out, that's a fine example of talking out of both sides of the mouth. The writer knew he could not get away with calling him corrupt, yet tries to do it anyway.

But here's what really got me. The following comment is from someone from Iran:

I don't understand why my country hates Israel since to me after reading this article on Rabbi Lau it seems that Israelis hate jews just like we do!

That pretty much says it all.