Stephardic Chief Rabbi, ethnic cleanser, Yitzhak Yosef
The Israeli chief Sephardic rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, told a gathering of followers that non-Jews should be expelled from Israel (Hebrew here). The only exception, he said, would be in the cases of non-Jews who accepted the seven Noahide laws.
The rabbi’s intent is to expel the largest non-Jewish population in Israel, Palestinian Arabs. He also said that those non-Jews who did accept the Noahide laws and remained in the Israel, would primarily serve Jews. Their role would be akin to slaves and servants in colonial regimes.
The chief Rabbi acknowledged that Israel was currently not in a position to execute this plan; primarily because of the resistance to it from the non-Jewish world. However, he said that in the time of the messiah Israel would be in a position to implement this plan. And he looked forward to the Messianic era with great joy and anticipation.
Yosef also reminded his followers that any Palestinian armed with any weapon was worth killing without hesitation (“he who seeks to kill you, rise up before and kill him first”). He was tacitly criticizing the IDF chief of staff who’d told an audience last week that Orthodox reasoning that killing any Palestinian no matter how small the threat posed was unacceptable. He did not want, he said, to see his soldiers emptying their bullet chambers on Palestinians wielding scissors. Rabbi Yosef’s religious reasoning reverts back to the most primitive “eye for an eye” thinking which Jews haven’t used as their operative principle in thousands of years.
Expulsion of Palestinians accords with those of the former Chief Ashkenazi, Jonah Metzger, who said that non-Jews, meaning Palestinian Muslims, should be expelled from Israel to Egypt. He said that the Sinai would be a perfect place to send them, since it was underpopulated. He suggested that Palestinian genius would make the desert bloom “like Arizona.” He even generously offered Israeli assistance in resettling what would be Israeli Palestinian refugees.
Yosef, is the son of the former Sephardi chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Before he died, the latter said that non-Jews in Israel served only one useful purpose. He likened them to donkeys who served their masters as beasts of burden.
Some may argue that these figures are marginal in Israeli society. However Rabbi Yosef is not just the chief Sephardic Rabbi, but also a spiritual leader of one of Israel’s major political parties, Shas. As such, he wields considerable power in Israeli society. Israel, which was once a largely secular society, has become increasingly theocratic.
We should also keep in mind that societies which were once liberal and humane one minute, turned into something quite different and uglier the next. As examples, we should look to our own country under Trump and Hungary under Viktor Orban. Civilization and tolerance can disappear in a heartbeat. It’s especially troubling when religion is the champion of such brutalism.
There may be those encouraged by this to claim that these interpretations represent Judaism in full. Not so. They are not arbiters of Judaism for millions of the rest of us who do not ascribe to these views. But since there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions who do follow them, their views are worth portraying.
Silverstein has published Tikun Olam since 2003, It exposes the secrets of the Israeli national security state. He lives in Seattle, but his heart is in the east. He publishes regularly at Middle East Eye, the New Arab, and Jacobin Magazine. His work has also appeared in Al Jazeera English, The Nation, Truthout and other outlets.
….and that’s why any Israeli who has any money and a passport thinks heavily about leaving for Western Europe, Canada, or the US. It would be interesting to see the numbers of social migrants from Israel, see if the numbers rise as the Orthodox take further control of Israeli society, and see if this is creating a brain drain or not.
Why are all posts here so negative about Israel? For one thing: Just look at that beautiful embroidery on his robe. (It almost matches Palestinian embroidery in beauty.)
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Wow, Yitzhak Yosef looks like his father, no doubt about the paternity here ! In fact I had to look him up, I thought Richard’s had posted a photo of Yosef the Elder. Same looks, same religious-national extremism.
Eye-for-an-eye was an important principle, once upon a time, because it urged proportionality: ONLY an eye for an eye, not a life for an eye. And I would add, not a life for the crime (if such it be) of carrying a pair of scissors or a knife, particularly by a person employed (or seeking employment) to use such tools.
This business of “defining” people as (essentially) pre-attempted-murderers (but only if they are Arabs — Jews can carry any sort of weapons) and then punishing them as if they had in fact carried out the crime is or s/b hard for any decent person to swallow.
I’d heard of this trope of goyim slavery to Jews via neo nazi rants in the past but had shrugged it off as so much bs, given that your average nazi meathead deals in uninformed slander. But this has blown my mind. Does this extremist have any grasp of reality? How common is this attitude amongst other Jews? I know that I don’t subscribe to it but then I’m not a religious Jew nor a Zionist. In the current climate of resurgent AntiSemitism, does this person grasp how damaging such theological garbage is? How come he isn’t locked up as a political extremist due for some deradicalisation? He sounds like a Saudi salafist.
@1xantifa: Yosef is an extremely influential figure among Mizrahim, which is a substantial part of Israeli Jewish population. So he holds sway in this sector. There are other Orthodox rabbis who hold equally noxious views who are Ashkenazi.
But the majority of Israelis remain secular & they tend to view these rabbis as a bit kooky. Of course, the views of the Orthodox do seep into the mainstream & have an impact.
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I thought that the calls for torture and genocide against the Palestinians from columnists at Arutz Sheva that appear were disgusting enough to become vocal in my anti zionism, but this takes the cake by extending the hatred to the rest of humanity. Civilised people need to take their religious extremists and force them via law and punishment that their views are simply unacceptable 72 years after the Holocaust. Right wingers here in australia were wanting to gut our racial discrimination act so that australians could be free to be bigots (our commonwealth attorney generals phrase), they thankfully failed. Free speech cannot contain hate speech. And for any free speech absolutists out there, there is no such creature as free speech. You cannot claim free speech as an excuse for revealing state secrets or confidential business information (eg those 11 herbs and spices, what goes into coca cola, etc). Nor can you slander/libel a person with impunity, you can be sued. We’ve seen what hate speech leads to, namely dead people, usually in large numbers. I might have to learn Hebrew so I can keep an eye on this stuff. Your blog is really opening my perspective, so many deep thanks. And thanks for your response.
All of Israel is celebrating Shevi’i Shel Pesach by visiting friends and relaxing or by having a Maimouna party.
No one in Israel is paying this rabbi the slightest mind.
@Seamus Ignoramus: No one pays the Sephardic chief Rabbi, who is spiritual guardian of Shas Party & all Mizrahi Jews, “the slightest mind?” Are you daft??? More likely you’re Ashkenazi, & so don’t know “shit from shinola” when it comes to Mizrahim.
Some interesting observations …
Are American Jews Shifting Their political Affiliation?
And this Ficken Charmer differs from Heinrich Himmler, HOW?
@ Bruce: the good rabbi never murdered anyone, for starters. Yosef talks a good game, and he certainly influences young Mizrahi Jews to the bad, but he’s no Himmler.