Rabbi Yaakov Yosef: The IDF must learn from the Syrians how to slaughter the enemy
The army has got to learn from the Syrians how to slaughter and crush the enemy - that is how Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, blessed the IDF [sic] soldiers who may soon find themselves within the Gaza Strip, within the framework of a ground operation which may happen in practice.
According to the report on the Jewish Voice [hakol hayehudi] website, Rabbi Yosef gave a sermon today at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and among other statements blessed the IDF soldiers by saying: we warmly bless the soldiers and pray that they leave in peace and return in peace. Immediately thereafter he said that the IDF should learn from the Syrians how to slaughter and how to crush the enemy.
According to the report, Rabbi Yosef said similar things in a sermon he gave in Jerusalem last weekend. Yosef was interrogated by the police in the past for alleged incitement, due to his statement of consent and approval for the Torat Hamelech book, which deals in the halacahic laws of war under the Torah.
The Syrian army has been universally condemned for indiscriminate shelling and bombing of Syrian towns and cities resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries and widespread destruction amid the ongoing civil war in that country.
Frequent incitement
Incitement by Israeli religious leaders is not new. Last June, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu was appointed to an advisory committee for Magen David Adom, Israels ICRC affiliate.
Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safad, whose salary is paid by the Israeli government, has a long, well-documented history of extreme racism and has called for violence against Palestinians.
In 2007, for example, Eliyahu called on Israel to kill a million Palestinians to stop rocket fire from Gaza. Eliyahus late father, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, had previously ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
Yaakovs own father, Ovadia Yosef, has also been the inspiration for his son. In 2001, the elder Yosef, known for calling the Palestinians snakes, effectively called for their extermination.
It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable, the revered cleric said.
Israeli ministers have also used violent rhetoric as the escalating Israeli assault on Gaza has claimed dozens of civilian lives.
Israels minister of home front defense Avi Dichter called for Israel to reformat Gaza wipe it clean like a computer hard drive, except using bombs.
Transport minister Israel Katz called for Israel to bomb Gaza so hard that the population would flee into Egypt, and for Israel to cut off water and electricity supplies.
And Eli Yishai, the interior minister and the head of the Shas party said the goal of the current assault is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages.
âIDF must learn from the Syrians how to slaughter the enemy,â? says prominent Israeli rabbi | The Electronic Intifada