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First, imagine a scholarly and widely respected Christian leader gave a sermon last week-end, referring to Muslims as “our enemies and haters” and intoning “May they vanish from the world, may God smite them with the plague!”
The story might well have made today’s New York Times. The western media would be chattering happily about this latest nasty turn in Christian-Islamic relations. Another ‘sign of the times’, TV talking heads would be saying to each other, shaking their wise heads. Sad – but understandable given the ongoing ‘War on Terror’…
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Next, imagine a leading and widely respected Islamic scholar had given a sermon last week-end, referring to Jews as “our enemies and haters” and exclaiming “May they vanish from the world, may Allah smite them with the plague!”
If the Imam in question lived in the ‘free world’, it’s not hard to imagine he might already be in jail. He could certainly expect ‘hate crimes’ charges and a massive media campaign against him, with all and sundry deploring his outrageous remarks. If he lived in a Moslem nation such as Iran, it would be grist to the western mass media mill… yet another ‘proof’ that Moslem societies are barely civilized.
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Finally… imagine a leading and widely respected Jewish scholar giving a lecture last week-end.
Rabbi Yosef: hopes God hates Palestinians too
Unlike the two hypothetical cases above, this actually happened.
In Israel, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages and senior Sephardi adjudicator, in his weekly Saturday night sermon, referred to Palestinian President Abbas and the Palestinian people as “our enemies and haters.” The Rabbi added “May they vanish from the world, may God smite them with the plague, them and the Palestinians, evil-doers and Israelhaters.”
This elderly sage is no junior in the arcane world of Jewish religiosity. Nor is he politically isolated in the State of Israel; far from it. His Shas Party currently has 11 elected MPs and FOUR seats in the Israeli cabinet.
The Wikipedia entry for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef describes him in the following, rather reverential terms:
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (born Abdullah Youssef on September 23 1920, Basra, Iraq and now living in Jerusalem) is a Mizrahi Haredi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and recognized halakhic authority. He is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, although he himself is Iraqi, not Sephardi. Yosef is also the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli Knesset. He is highly revered in the religious world, especially in the Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, for his erudition and Torah scholarship. He is among the most important poskim of the past few generations and is regarded by many as the foremost Rabbinical authority and a source of Daat Torah. He has been referred to as the Posek HaDor (“Posek of the present Generation”), Gadol HaDor (“great/est the generation”), Maor Yisrael (“The Light of Israel”) and Maran. Rabbi Yosef’s halakhic responsa are highly regarded within Orthodox circles and are considered binding in many Mizrahi communities, among whom he is regarded as “the most important living halachic authority.”. Rabbi Yosef’s responses are noted for citing almost every source regarding a specific topic and are often referred to simply as indices of all previous rulings.
Very impressive.
Now I wonder:
- Can we anticipate blanket coverage of the Rabbi’s outrageous remarks in the western media?
- Can we expect religious TV and radio programs will bring his comments to a wider audience in the ‘west’?
- Will the Pope and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury express concern and demand a retraction in the name of ‘inter-faith dialogue’?
- Will anti-religion scientist and doyen of secular activists Richard Dawkins publicly condemn the Rabbi for his blatant religious intolerance?
Rabbi Yosef voting in Apartheid Israel
Probably not, in each case.
In our bizarro world, this silly old bigot can say what he likes and get away with it.
That’s religious freedom and tolerance (although in this particularly outrageous instance – on the eve of a new round of pretend ‘peace talks’ with the Palestinians – even Prime Minister Netanyahu felt obliged to ‘clarify’ that the Rabbi was not expressing official Israeli Government policy!).
Any suggestion that Shas – the Rabbi’s political party of religious fanatics – should actually be held to account for the vicious, hate-laden sermons of its ‘spiritual leader’ would doubtless be regarded as intolerable interference in Israeli internal affairs.
Perhaps even bringing the words of this old fool to a wider (and unintended) audience is ‘anti-Semitic’?
I hope not.
I generally like Palestinians, even though they mostly speak Arabic. 
