Erekat: Israeli religious figure urging genocide of Palestinians

When a Rabbi says GOD should smite down Israel's enemies everyone screams racism, but when two out of three Imams say that ALL BELIEVERS should smite down Islam's enemies, that's.. well, it's not even news. For Muslim talkbackers that's nothing if not normal, but the infidels here exhibit a level of dhimmitude that really, really doesn't bode well.

Rav Ovadia's words shame us all, there's no way around that. He's like your crazy old uncle who you try to hide in the attic lest he say something offensive when guests come to visit. That having been said, all Israelis and Jews should denounce what he said. I would, however, like to point out that similar statements and worse are stated daily about Jews by muslim clerics. Alas, such statements are so common that they're not deemed to be newsworthy. Erekat would be a bit more credible if he condemned them as well.

Are this the religious figures of Israel? His commemts are "outragious" Hi would be arrested in any other civilized country!

So for a day, a senile, racist, unforgivable idiot, who happens to be a Jewish sheikh like those many of Hamas, says approximately the same that Hamas has written in its chart. I embrace yoy, feel ashamed at Ovadia Yosef, and condemn every word he said. But if you feel shocked about it, you should equally be shocked at what HAMAS says, and condemn it in equal terms.

Hipocrisy. Why Palestinian can sey that Killing Jewish is all right and Rabbi Joseph can't say the same thing??.

What Yosef said was inciting "genocide by God" not by people --- hardly the same thing, and hardly any different from what Moslems wish on Jews all the time. Except Moslems don't have any trouble with doing Allah's work for him.

For a leading rabbinical figure to utter such foolishness makes a mockery of Judaism and of the State of Israel. Foolishness of speech is one of the cardinal sins that we atone for on Yom Kippur. Hopefully Ovadia Yosef will be more careful with his utterances in the future.

while I completely deplore what rabbi Yosef said, in all fairness, palestinians and the arab/muslim world in general have been openly inciting hatred and genocide against Jews for decades. This is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, to put it nicely. Incitement against Jews is the palestinians' whole raison d'etre so they can hardly complain when they are on the receiving end of their own medicine. I hope Israel doesn't apologize or take any action until the pals clean up their house first. I hope Bibi puts it just in those words--"mr. erekat, when you stop incitement on your end, then and only then will we in Israel take this seriously." Until then, it's all just talk and kvetching on the part of the arabs.

Netanyahu needs to come out strongly against the latest outrage from this despicable 'man of religion'/This man has over the years made the most outrageous and heteful(and hurtful) statements which leads one to the conclusion that he's either deranged or senile.....or evil. Even if it may lead to a confrontation with his Shas political partner, he must speak out in the name of Israelis.

Erakat knows as well as everyone else that Yosef's babblings and rantings are shared by virtually no-one in Israel. All Yosef has done is provide a timely pretext for the Palestinians once again to squirm their way out of peace talks with Israel. Let's make a deal: you ignore Yosef and we'll ignore Hamas's constant calls to genocide and destruction of Israel. Now drop the lame excuses and let's talk.

This fanatics call to rid the world of Palestinians is no difference than the ethnic cleansing the Israeli's did in 1948. Even Jewish historians acknowledge the ethnic cleansing the Israelis did in establishing their "state". This is simply Zionism at it's core.

Everybody knows that "Israel is going to be wiped from the pages of history". Israel will be "Pushed into the sea". Everybody knows that shortly the very stones of the earth will cry out if a Jew is hiding behind them. Here is a Jew Kill him! These are just a miniscule sampling of Arab thoughts on Jews. One old man,asking God to bring a plague on Israel's enemies is a pathetic when compared to genocidal messages put out daily by the Arabs..

and all this time I thought it was genocide that was bad - now I hear that it is only bad depending on who is being exterminated.

Even the Pope himself will be indicted if he suggested that all the Jews need to perish!!!!

It would appear that Yosef and his followers would have agreed with the Holocaust - if only had had picked a different group of people to exterminate? Is that the Israel that we support? I hope not. Moderates need to silences this blot on civility.

What other explanation could there be for the occupation, theft and brutalization of the Palestinian people? Many Israelis do not view them as human beings, sadly.

condeming Palestinians, secular Jews, gays, women....

Have you nothing better to do than spend your Time arguing with a senile old man, suffering from advanced dementia. Ya akhi haram alek

We all knew some rabbi was going to start talking genocide, I just figured they'd have the good taste to wait until the last Holocaust survivor had passed away.

The only difference between the viewpoint of the most liberal Israeli Jews and the most conservative Israeli Jews is in how Israel treats the Palestinians today. Both ends of the spectrum sign on to everything which went on before. This means that the main difference between the various Israeli political viewpoints is that the liberals say things to soothe their conscience but they are relieved that those Israelis without a conscience have the final say.

Did these liars like Erekat and Tibi ever condemn their Imams like Ikrema Sabri for their Fatwas. I never heard a word in defense of Salman Rushdie. These liars and hypocrites spread destruction upon the Jewish people. If Abbas was able, he would complete the atrocities of 70 years ago where his people like Husseini collaborated in mass murder with the evil Germans. Anyway, what Rabbi Yosef SAYS they have practiced against the Jews for the past century. Erekat, how have YOU prepared YOUR people for peace ??

Ovadia Yosef's inciement is marginal compared to the official actions of the PA. At least Yosef doesn't fill school textbooks full of false promises, hatred and incitement. Mr. Erekat should learn that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Never in a million years i thought an Israeli would say such a thing in public.. after all what happend 65years ago ? It says enough how the current Israeli generation(not all ofcourse) has lost all his/her values

It was not nice of R. Ovadia to state what 99.9 % of the Israeli feel....

Zahalka added, "If, heaven forbid, a Muslim spiritual leader were to make anti-Jewish comments of this sort, he would be arrested immediately. There aren't enough jails to hold them all. And if you include just ordinary Muslims, not just spiritual leaders, you'd be arresting pretty much every Syrian, Iranian, Palestinian, and Lebanese.

Check http://www.memri.org or http://www.palwatch.org/ Is Erekat saying anything about that? No, he focuses on the single Jewish Rabbi.

Jewish religious fanatics are just that, fanatics , and they are freely criticised in Israel. Cant' say the same about the Moslem fanatics worldwide, they are applauded, never criticised. Saeb Erekat is a seasoned provocateur himself anyway; a veteran peace talks negociator always putting spanners in the wheels; he is just Yaser Arafat in a suit with a slightly better accent.

All things come 360 degrees in their time. I just never expected it would take a mere 55 years? Ah well, such is life.

Dude makes radical muslim mullahs look good next to him.

Israel is a democracy, unlike in gaza (which was given to the palestinians for peace, which Israel didnt get) where you can get in big trouble for speaking out in the government, Israel, like america, won't do anything because freedom of speech (unless you endanger it's citizens)

To be destroyed, ruined, to die. That certainly is the only fate the Netanyahu government holds open for Palestinians. Either that, or if they are lucky, to continue survival in ever smaller concentration areas.

divine intervention and not one by the hand of man. ie a plague

So this charlatan pronounces Palestinians "evil" and worthy of perishing from this world. I seem to recall hearing that a certain German political leader said something similar about another group of people. This was about 70 years ago. Yet Israel remains quiet about its former chief rabbi. Israeli silence speaks volumes.

This is why I'm secular. Don't hold your breath for any denunciation of this lunatic from Israel's political leaders...they might need Shas in the next coalition, and secretly they probably agree with him.

Instead of translating words, you are making them even more sharp. This is not honest of you. Saeb Erekat had to react, but he reacts on your posting and not on the speech itself. I do not believe, you could not exactly translate, what was said. Now you look exactly as LATMA depicts you.

Look at their songs on utube about redeeming the land in blood. Rabbis Joseph knows that the Palestinians are in general Israels mortal enemy. He hopes for a plague to kill them because in general at this time their intentions are against us. Remember he pushed Oslo at one time and it failed so he has a long experience with them. Maybe one day things will change but right now they are for the most part although not all of them Israels enemies

The Rabbi seems a 'tad' extreme. He does need to check his facts first though before speaking - there is no such thing as a 'Palestinian'. They are a made-up entity that the UN uses to legitimize stealing Israeli land (God given) and giving it to people who chose to leave Israel to allow the "victorious arab armies to drive the Jews into the sea". The blew it (many times) and now cry about their decisions.

What do you do when you are immersed from childhood in pre-medieval law which distinguishes between killing a Jew and killing a Gentile? While killing anybody is forbidden by Halakha, the murderer is punished by execution if he killed a Jew, but is only "punished by Heaven" if he killed a Noahide (e.g., a Muslim). Today you have rabbinic opinions that allow killing of Arabs, even innocents, that endanger Jewish control of the Land. They simply compare the importance of the various commandments and come to such conclusions. Rabin's assassination was also sanctioned by some according to Jewish law of "mosser". The settlers see no problem in burning down Arab crops, or uprooting their olive trees, just to get back at the IDF, and not for any wrong the Arabs committed. The Halakha was not updated much, certainly did not have a chance to evolve naturally under conditions of Jewish control over Gentiles. Since changes in it are extremely slow, it is best to override it wholesale, as was done in laws concerning financial issues, according to the ruling of "Dina d'malchuta dina", "the law of the land is valid." But I wonder how long it will take to also change the moral/ethical influence that goes with the outdated Halakha.

curse Ahmajad together with the rest of them

We don't need Hitchens to tell us that religion, and its self-appointed right to utter the outrageous is the curse of the middle east. In Canada, " hate speech" is a crime, and religious persons are as liable as any one. I would say that Israel needs such a law, but looking at the record, it would just be a gateway to more scofflaws.

This is not "urging genocide", as they claim.

Not only the Israeli government but Shas and every Jew should denounce Obadiah Yosef's despicable call for the death of the Palestinian people and their leaders. This is the same man, masquerading as a rabbi, who famously declared in 1996 that God brought the holocaust upon us because we did not keep the Sabbath. We are not responsible for every nutcase among our people, but we dare not keep silent in this instance.

Palestinians should "perish" from the earth. These thugs have killed HOW many Jewish people? Enough already.. stop the half steps and have a war. One side needs to win, one side needs to lose, and put an end to it.

Every iman in every mosque everywhere preaches the destruction of Israel and jihad against the west every friday night. Like it or not we are in a holy war - islam against all us infidels. We are just too politically correct to know it, which is why they will win and wipe us out.

Jewish supremacy and feellings of superiority are noting new. What is disguisting is how accepted these fascists are in Jewish society. Hypocriticals Jews are always demanding Arabs, Christians and Liberals to stamp out Anti-Semitism over very innocent criticism of Israel or Jews. Where are the Jews in condemning actual hate from their own urging Genocide of a group. Hypocrisy! However, what does one expect from an Apartheid State!!!

Will Ovadia be thrown behind bars for murderous incitement against an ethnic group? Unlikely, since Ovadia himself is represented by his follower Yishai in the present government! We can now come back to reality and accept that the Washington talks are nothing bur morphine for the Palestinian people to accept the theft of their remaining pockets of land.

Well, Saeb, this just goes to show you've got your maniacs--and we've got ours. Ovadia Yosef is our devil in rabbi's garb. He's the one who pronounced the reason for the death of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust as due to their own sin, that their souls needed to be destroyed because they inherited sin, each from a personal lineage of impurity. And you want to blame us Jews for this man--an aberration of nature who should certainly suffer the exorcism of whatever demon speaks through him. Anyway, Saeb, you're the one many of us Jews are counting on. You may not know this, but you are our idea of the highest level of love and hope for a shared future.

Are you kidding me? Israel tolerates rockets from Palestine and they get slammed when someone speaks out against the Palestinian people? Palestine funds and gives tons of money to militants who die blowing up Israel... this is a joke.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef should be taken to court, but he is NOT a member of the Israeli Government as Saeb Erekat claims. Of course Erekat knows that, but he can't stop lieing in order to harm Israel. I've never heard him say anything positive - if he's negotiating for the Palestinians there is little hope.

Wake up Abbas ... Hamas & Hezbollah were right all along