JOURNALIST: Please ask Mr. Zion Cohen what he thinks of the Mavi Marmara Flotilla.
RABBI ZION COHEN: I would like to give over a very important principle in Judaism. In the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments there are five commandments that are between man and God, and parallel to that there are five commandments that are between man and man. It is important to note that the first commandment is "I am the LORD your God" and parallel to that is "Thou shalt not kill". That is to say that someone who breaks the first commandment, who does not believe in God, that he can fall to the level where he can commit murder. We have another example, from our forefather Jacob, when he went out to meet [his estranged brother] Esav, there is an expression "and Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (Genesis 32:7) There is a redundancy here, [why say "greatly afraid" and "distressed"?] Our sages tell us that he was afraid of two things, he was afraid that he might have to kill, and he was also afraid that he might be killed. This teaches that someone who is a servant of God, must be very careful not come in any way to shed blood. This is a general principle in Judaism.
It was terrible thing that this happened, and it is very important to take steps that this never happen again. We want to make it entirely clear that we are very sorry at the loss of life, whenever it happens, and we pray that the future brings and opportunity for love, brotherhood, peace and fellowship.
