- The spiritual leader of Israel,s ultra-Orthodox Shas
party has come under attack for a Passover sermon in which he called on
God to annihilate Arabs.
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- "It is forbidden to be merciful to them, you must
give them missiles, with relish " annihilate them. Evil ones, damnable
ones, Ovadia Yosef was quoted in the Hebrew Maariv newspaper as telling
a congregation attending prayers last weekend.
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- His party, which holds the balance of power in Israel,s
Knesset and is a key member of Ariel Sharon,s national unity coalition,
moved quickly to clarify his remarks, which included a plea to God to destroy
Arabs. Yitzhak Sudri, the party spokesman, insisted that the rabbi was
referring only to "Arab murderers and terrorists, but Rabbi Yosef,s
comments revived memories of his recent description of Arabs as "snakes
amid complaints that the Palestinian Authority was tolerating incitement,
which both sides agreed to ban under the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord.
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- "May the Holy Name visit retribution on the Arabs,
heads, and cause their seed to be lost, and annihilate them, and cause
them to be cast from the world, Rabbi Yosef, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel,s
Sephardi Jews, is reported to have said.
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- Yesterday Meir Sheetrit, a Cabinet minister from Mr Sharon,s
Likud Party, said that Rabbi Yosef,s statements should be condemned. "A
person of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,s stature must refrain from acrid remarks
such as these . . . I suggest that we not learn from the ways of the Palestinians
and speak in verbal blows like these, he said.
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- Yassir Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian Information Minister,
said yesterday: "This is the third time that the rabbi has espoused
openly racist views and neither his party nor his Government in which it
serves has bothered to apologise.
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- The first Arab Cabinet minister, Salah Tarif, a Druze
and a former Israeli Army captain, said that it was "truly a pity
that such things are said at such a difficult time in relations between
the nation and Arabs both within the country and without. These remarks
add nothing but hatred.
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