State Department v. Rabbi Ovadiah
On Sunday, I reported that Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef had cursed Abu Bluff and the 'Palestinians' during the rabbi's Saturday night Torah class. The State Department was not too pleased about that. The State Department has criticized as inflammatory the remarks Saturday of the rabbi who serves as the spiritual leader to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which is a member of Israel's governing coalition.But Rabbi Yosef was not inciting anyone to do anything. Please note what Rabbi Yosef said.
On Saturday, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 89, spiritual leader to the Israeli Shas party, condemned upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and called for the Palestinians and their political leader Mahmoud Abbas to “perish from this world,” Israeli media reported.
“Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world," Rabbi Ovadia was cited by Israeli media as saying in his weekly sermon, using the nickname for Abbas. "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians."
The State Department Sunday issued a statement saying it regretted Yosef's "inflammatory statements," and noting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced his government from the remarks.
“We regret and condemn the inflammatory statements by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. We note the Israeli statement that the Rabbi's comments do not reflect the views of the Prime Minister,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a statement Sunday.
“These remarks are not only deeply offensive, but incitement such as this hurts the cause of peace," Crowley continued. "As we move forward to relaunch peace negotiations, it is important that actions by people on all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it.”
"God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians."Rabbi Yosef wasn't calling for people to murder the 'Palestinians.' He was calling for God to strike them. That's a huge difference. Compare it to the rhetoric on 'Palestinian Authority' television, let alone Hamas, Hezbullah or Iran.
And by the way, 'Abu Mazen' isn't a nickname - it's his nom de guerre (name used in war).
UPDATE 7:55 PM
There is now security deployed outside Rabbi Yosef's house (it's no secret where he lives - link in Hebrew).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:42 PM
9 Comments:
Let the State Dept. seethe, like the Arabs which they are.
So .... I have to ask .... does PJ Crowley utter a word at all .... anything .... when the 'palis' call for jewish blood?
No?
Didn't think so.
Here this rabbi said "G-d Damn them". Not "lets kill them all". Yet this merits a response from the State Department. Yet, on a daily basis, when the PA and its organs say "lets kill all the jews" ... do we hear nary a peep?
No?
Wonder why that is.
I think it is wrong to try and justify this Rabbi's declaration by saying that he is asking for G-d to strike Palestinians. Some nut may decide that G-d has chosen him to do the deed and start shooting.
We cannot condone this type of declaration and at the same time pretend that we hold the high moral ground.
This is morally wrong, politically wrong and a disaster from a PR standpoint.
This guy is obviously senile and his utterances should be held as such.
This is beyond belief. Why doesn't the media ever report on what the muslims say about allah destroying Israel and killing all the Jews? Why doesn't the media report on any of the incitement by muslims. I can't take much more of this absolute bias against not only Jews but all non-muslims.
I don't really care for the obvious double standard from the State Department. Clearly, this is not news and we all know that place is full of arabists.
What really troubles me and why I think this Rabbi should be condemned unequivocally, is that he gives credence to those who keep arguing that extremism comes from all sides and that all sides have their own terrorists. I don't believe that any Jew would stoop to the level of the Palestinian terrorists when it comes to killing innocent people and hiding behind children as human shields. We respect life, all life.
Yet, when someone like this Rabbi makes this type of public declaration, uninformed people who won't take the time to go beyond the headlines will interpret this as confirming that there are Jewish "terrorists" just like there are Palestinian terrorists.
What this Rabbi said is totally beyond the pale and I couldn't care less who he is or what type of ridiculous costume he wears. He is hurting all Jews and that is simply wrong.
Hmmm, funny enough that the State dept. never has a word to say regarding the bile coming out of PA sponsored imams every Friday.
No, not funny actually, typical is more like it.
I hope he is successful. They should perish.
the rav is 89...he no longer worries about being a politician...so he speaks from his heart
davening for the destruction of one's enemies is not asur
and the one thing that i learned after meeting the rav 30 years ago, is that he can see into a person's heart
abu mazen and the majority of his followers are not friends to the yiddin
and of course bibi must distance himself from the comments....but im sure he is hoping that hashem heard and will act on the tephilah
Kol hakavod to the Rabbi. The insects he cursed are evil even to their own people. Israel should have bombed the media organs of the PLO and HAMAS that spew 24/7 hate and incitement against Jews... a long time ago...
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