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Shas spiritual leader and former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners September 7, 2005 |
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Shas spiritual leader and former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said that American President George W. Bush, along with New Orleans residents, are to blame for Hurricane Katrina: the former because of his support for the Disengagement plan and the latter because of their lack of Torah study. Yosef said the victims have suffered "because they have no God".
"It was God's retribution. God does not short-change anyone," said Rabbi Yosef during his weekly sermon on Tuesday.
His comments were carried Wednesday on the Ynet news website. A Shas official, Tzvika Yaacobson, did not deny Ovadia made the comments but said they were taken out of context.
According to Ynet, Ovadia also said recent natural disasters were the result of a lack of Torah study and that Katrina's victims suffered "because they have no God."
Veering into apparent racism, the Rabbi explained: "There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn't enough Torah study.... Black people reside there. Blacks will study the Torah? (God said:) let?s bring a tsunami and drown them."
"He (Bush) perpetrated the expulsion (of Jews from Gaza). Now everyone is mad at him. This is his punishment for what he did to Gush Katif, and everyone else who did as he told them, their time will come, too," Ovadia was quoted as saying.
Ovadia's comments drew fierce criticism in a Ynet readers forum.
"This is one of the most idiotic, offensive pronouncements I've seen yet about the hurricane. It rivals the kind of idiocy we've seen from Islamic extremists," said one reader, identifying himself only as Howard.
Another reader, Jennifer, wrote: "You stupid ignorant little man. How can anyone blame this disaster on politics? Go crawl back into your little hole before you do any more harm."
Knesset Member Eliezer Cohen of the right-wing National Union party dismissed Ovadia's comments in a talk with Ynet. "I know meteorology well enough not to believe such rubbish,? he said.
Lawmaker Ronny Brison was quoted as saying: "What, God is cross-eyed? He metes out punishments at the wrong place? We're sick and tired of Rabbi Ovadia's primitive worldview. He already did his part, he can remove himself from public life."
Yaacobson, who heads the Shas faction in the Israeli parliament, said people were misinterpreting the rabbi.
"He has a special style he uses when he speaks to the people," said Yaacobson. "He tells jokes that you may like, and may not like. When you just tell the joke, you are ignoring the connotation."
Ovadia is no stranger to controversy. Last March he declared that God will strike dead "the evil one" who evacuates Israelis from the Gaza Strip, referring to Sharon.
He has called on the Israeli army to "joyfully" annihilate Arabs with rockets, and caused a huge uproar when he stated that the six million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust died because they were reincarnations of sinners in previous generations.
The AP contributed to this report.
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