Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef called for a lethal plague on the head of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people — shortly before the start of negotiations with the Palestinians.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday distanced himself from Yosef’s comments. A spokeman said that praying for death and plague on the Palestinian people (and specifically its president) does not “represent the views of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or the Israeli government.” That is reassuring. It makes negotiations a bit awkward when you are waiting for a plague to kill the guy across the table and all of the men, women and children in his country.
According to reports, Yosef used his weekly sermon to call for death of Abbas and all Palestinians — praying for “the Lord strike them down.”
Yosef has been known to make other shocking statements, including his recent denouncing of the secular education system and calling some secular people “fools” who behave like “animals.” He later added that parents who send their children to secular schools will be punished in both this world and the afterlife.
Source: JPost
JONATHAN TURLEY
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