On the Anniversary of Rabin's Death Another Terrorist Attack at a Jerusalem Light Rail Station!

י"ב לחודש השמיני תשע"ה

Ironically, possibly on purpose, on the anniversary of former Prime Minister Yitzhaq Rabin's death, there was another attack at a Jerusalem light rail station. Today was the anniversary in the both the Hebrew (12 Heshwan) and Western calendars.

Prime Minister Rabin was one of the main forces behind the Oslo "Death" Accords. Another major force behind the Accords included former President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

Over one thousand Jews have been killed since the acceptance of the Oslo "Death" Accords.

YNET: Terror attack in Jerusalem; six woundedCar rams into pedestrians at Tomb of Simeon the Just in East Jerusalem, exits car and continues attack with metal bar until police shot dead by police; after violent morning clashes on Temple Mount. 

Noam (Dabul) Dvir Published: 11.05.14, 12:23 

A pickup truck rammed into a group of pedestrians waiting for Jerusalem's Light Rail, wounding a number of people, in what seems to be an additional terror attack on Wednesday. The suspected terrorist was identified as a Hamas operative from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat. 

According to the police a "a vehicle struck a number of people in Jerusalem. Emergency units (are) at two scenes treating injured." Initial reports say that a terror attack has taken place at the Tomb of Simeon the Just (or Kever Shimon haTzadik) Light Rail train station. 

According to initial reports, the terrorist first hit a group of security forces that were waiting at a crosswalk and then headed for the train station and continued driving down the street, hitting cars. 

He then rammed into a group of pedestrians with his car, leaving one is in serious condition, two with serious wounds, two others in moderate condition and one in light condition.
The driver then continued to drive hitting a number of cars and then stopped, exited the car holding a metal bar and proceeded to attack additional pedestrians. Border Patrol forces then shot and killed him. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
YNET's report in Hebrew did not even use the word "terror."

In English it was, but this crap about Shu'afat being in East Jerusalem has got to stop. Shu'afat clearly lies on the west side of the so called "Seam" between west and east. The "Seam" was a happenstance creation, resulting from Israel's War of Independence in 1948/תש"ח. Just because Shu'afat is [currently] as Arab neighborhood, does not magically make it part of the east, when it is in the west.

Furthermore, the report on YNET in Hebrew names the neighborhood in which the Shimon HaTzadiq Neighborhood sits as "Sheikh Jarra," The light rail company's error in name the station in Arabic aside, it is not. What the Arabs call "Sheikh Jarra" lies further north than this neighborhood of Shimon HaTzadiq, a neighbor which has a long history of being Jewish.

One of the results of the War of Independence was the lost of Jewish homes on the eastern, Jordanian-controlled side of the "Seam." In fact, the late, past Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef z"l and his family have always had a strong connection to this neighborhood. As a teen, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef was one of its regular Torah readers.

One of his grandsons, Yehonatan "Yoni" Yosef, so of the late Rabbi Ya'aqov Yosef z"l gives tours of the  , recounting the history of the area, from ancient times until now (video).


The tomb is the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Jewish settlers recently moved into a number of houses in the area, heightening tensions in the already volatile capital. According to initial reports the car hit a Light Rail train station.

YNET's reference is to the recent, purchase of properties in the Silwan neighborhood.

The Jewish Press: Jews Enter Six More Buildings in Silwan Secretly Bought from Arabs Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu, September 30th, 2014 

More than two dozen Jews under heavy police escort moved into six more homes purchased by a Jewish investment company in Silwan Valley, including the City of David complex, in eastern Jerusalem Monday night. 

A group of Arabs hurled firecrackers and stones at police in a failed attempt to enter one of the buildings, and one policeman was treated at the scene for head wounds. 

Three of the homes are located in the City of David complex, located on the road opposite the Dung Gate that is the entrance to the Western Wall Plaza. At least one of the other homes is situated near the ancient Silwan Pool. 

The Jewish Press has learned that approximately two dozen youth moved into the newly-purchased homes as part of a strategy to show an immediate presence prior to families moving in... 

...All other questions to Segal and Orenstein were met with a wall of silence, which is the smartest strategy because anything they say will be held against them by Peace Now, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and anyone else who cannot stand to see Jews violating the sacred principles of the holy ”peace process” that demands the expulsion of Jews from the same neighborhood from which the British once expelled them. (cont.)

It is a misswah, a Torah Commandment, for us to take possession of the Land of Israel, whether or not the Israeli government stands in the way, or not (Num. 33:50-55).

PA President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazen) Vision of "Piece."

By now, you should all know that Arabs put out a "hit" an any Arabs selling their property to Jews. How about that for a "peace partner?"

The Yishma'elim do not want peace; they want "piece." They want a very large piece of Israel. In fact, they want it all.

#BringBackOurBoys Why Were They Really Killed?

ג׳ לחודש הרביעי תשע״ד

Statements as to why three Jewish boys were recently abducted by Arab terrorists have been flooding the Internet, and have been accompanied by the usual finger pointing and blame game.

Now that the boys have been found murdered, May God avenge their blood!, it is of the utmost importance to answer the question in title.

Most of you may find this to be insensitive and distasteful. However, I intend to answer the questןon anyway, if for no other reason that piqu'ah nefesh (saving a life).

Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16), Gil'ad Sha'ar (16)

First, here is a sample of the opinions being thrown around as to why the boys were abducted in the first place.

The Yated Ne'eman newspaper "holds the government of Israel responsible for the kidnapping of three teenage boys...a direct result of the Israeli government’s effort to draft Hareidim into the army."

Rabbi Dov Lior (Qiryath Arba-Hevron) said Thursday that the abduction of Eyal Yifrah, Gil'ad Shayer and Naftali Frenkel "was God’s punishment for what he called “anti-religious” legislation pushed by the current Knesset, and for Israel’s stated willingness to abandon parts of Eretz Yisrael."

Mekubal Rabbi Yaakov Adas, "who is admitted to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, hinted on Friday night the kidnapping of the youths was due to President Shimon Peres taking part in a prayer service with Pope Frances and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) during his recent visit to the Vatican."

There were also statements of the obvious, that the Arabs are seeking to kidnap more Jews, in order to exchange them for more prisoner releases.

On a more direct, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu shlit"a (Tzfath) "accused the family of abducted soldier Gilad Schalit on Sunday of weakening Israel by appealing to the public’s sentiment in order to ratchet up pressure on the government for a prisoner swap."

Odd that no one mentioned anything about...

• allowing heinous desecrations on the Temple Mount
• allowing pork sales in Jerusalem
• inviting avodah zarah into the Land, and helping it to dig its claws into it
• I am sure that someone also blamed Israeli Gay Pride events. I just happened to miss these reports. 

How is it that, in times of tragedy, no one ever seems to bring up what is explicitly mentioned in the Torah, if we fail to heed a few of its commandments in particular, removing these  perei adam (wild asses of men) from our midst...

במדבר לג

נ וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, בְּעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב, עַל-יַרְדֵּן יְרֵחוֹ, לֵאמֹר. נא דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם: כִּי אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן, אֶל-אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן. נב וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ, מִפְּנֵיכֶם, וְאִבַּדְתֶּם, אֵת כָּל-מַשְׂכִּיֹּתָם; וְאֵת כָּל-צַלְמֵי מַסֵּכֹתָם תְּאַבֵּדוּ, וְאֵת כָּל-בָּמוֹתָם תַּשְׁמִידוּ. נג וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וִישַׁבְתֶּם-בָּהּ: כִּי לָכֶם נָתַתִּי אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, לָרֶשֶׁת אֹתָהּ.נג וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וִישַׁבְתֶּם-בָּהּ: כִּי לָכֶם נָתַתִּי אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, לָרֶשֶׁת אֹתָהּ. נד וְהִתְנַחַלְתֶּם אֶת-הָאָרֶץ בְּגוֹרָל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶם, לָרַב תַּרְבּוּ אֶת-נַחֲלָתוֹ וְלַמְעַט תַּמְעִיט אֶת-נַחֲלָתוֹ--אֶל אֲשֶׁר-יֵצֵא לוֹ שָׁמָּה הַגּוֹרָל, לוֹ יִהְיֶה: לְמַטּוֹת אֲבֹתֵיכֶם, תִּתְנֶחָלוּ. נה וְאִם-לֹא תוֹרִישׁוּ אֶת-יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ, מִפְּנֵיכֶם--וְהָיָה אֲשֶׁר תּוֹתִירוּ מֵהֶם, לְשִׂכִּים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם וְלִצְנִינִם בְּצִדֵּיכֶם; וְצָרְרוּ אֶתְכֶם--עַל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יֹשְׁבִים בָּהּ. נו וְהָיָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּמִּיתִי לַעֲשׂוֹת לָהֶם--אֶעֱשֶׂה לָכֶם.

Numbers 33
50 And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 51 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. And you shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell in it; for to you have I given the land to possess it. 53 And you shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell within it; for to you have I given the land to possess it. 54 And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families--to the more you shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot fall to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit. 55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you dwell. 56 And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do to you.

Wouldn't want to be labeled a racist, would we? Even though the Torah makes no such distinctions here.



Well, now it is my turn to up the ante. Please allow me to bring you back down to earth, from the spiritual realms. Leave your guesswork to the Gedolim, and take a look at what is within your control, and that is following the halakhah.

Let me also preface this by stating very clearly where I personally place the blame,...on the Israeli religious educational system, and thus the the Israeli Government and its Statist "rabbis" who not only support, but collaborate with this system on a daily basis.

And of what exactly am I accusing the State and its puppets?

I am accusing them of teaching Torah against the halakhah. Well, it has already been forbidden to listen to anything Shlomo Aviner has to say regarding halakhah. But what about the other diehard, State loyalists?

The negative commandment of לא תחנם/Lo Techonem (Deut. 7:2) encompasses not saving them from danger and not providing them with any medical treatment, if at all possible.

Three categories, not providing the goyim with any foothold on the Land, not providing them with gifts, and not even saying anything nice about them are emphasized as keys points to preventing from violating misswath lo ta'aseh (negatively phrased Torah commandment). (Ramba"m, Laws of Avodah Zarah and the Laws of Goyim 10:1-9) Rabbi Shmu'el Eliyahu shlit"a of Tzfath warned us of this of this prohibition, and incurred the wrath of the Left, the Modern Orthodox, and of course, as you might suspect, the ADL.

So, to what degree are all of these groups complicit in these boys' murders?

How many of you would like to bet that this halakhah was never mentioned, despite its direct relevance to these boys' lives, or if it was, it was glossed over, qualified to prevent teachers from getting arrested, or said not to have any relevance in our current time and situation, e. g. before the coming of Mashi'ah.

If I am mistaken, and this halakhah was taught in their schools, its observance has been discouraged, no, fought tooth and nail by the co-dependent, desperately politically-correct Israeli Government, by compliant "rabbis" who prefer silence to the truth, and confused and naive parents, who without fail, pass on their confusion to the next generation.

And yet, eyewitness testimony at the trempiada (hitchhiking station) suggests that these boys were lurered into a Arab's car after "doing the nice thing" of helping him in the push-starting of his car

"Such nice things" are forbidden! But, how would they know that, with the current, anti-Torah educational system of the anti-Torah State of Israel?!

Jews often talk about using this approach to negotiate a peace settlement with our Arab enemies, show them that we are willing to work with them, do "nice things" for them, give them food and medical care,...and even help push start their engines.

NO! ENOUGH ALREADY! 

How many more of our children must be murdered while we just sit here with faith in a useless, co-dependent government, and their equally useless ie. "rabbis" before we start following Torah Law instead of playing with it, crossing out what we do not like or otherwise distorting it?!

*********

According to the Ramba"m (Teshuvah 148), and the Beth Yosef and the [uncensored] Ba"H (Rabbi Yoel Sirkish) in their respective commentaries on the Tur, Lo Tehonem, ALL hold that the use of the term 'oved 'avodah zarah indicates a goy who does not keep the Seven Torah Commandments of B'nei No'ah.

The few lines of the Ba"H mentioned above were apparently never seen by Rabbi Avraham Yitzhaq Kook ztz"l nor Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef ztz"l.

Welcome to the Sheikh Jarrah Yeshivah! Huh?

כ' לחודש השנים עשר תשע"ד

JPost: Construction of controversial yeshiva approved in Sheikh Jarrah
Daniel K. Eisenbud, February 12, 2014

Nine-story campus wins approval in 4 to 3 vote by J'lem Planning and Building Committee; Municipality: Decision not a provocation, years away from being built. By a narrow margin, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee on Wednesday approved the construction of a yeshiva campus in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, beyond the Green Line.

MK Dr. Meir Margalit
(Meretz)

The Glassman campus, as the 10,000 sq.m. complex is known, is set to include 12 floors and be built on a vacant lot adjacent to the yeshiva’s current Ohr Somayach campus on Shimon Hatzadik Street. It will include dormitories and classrooms.

Although the land is owned by the Israel Lands Authority, the Jerusalem Planning Department and numerous city council members have vocally opposed the construction, repeatedly attempting to postpone the vote in consideration of peace negotiations.

Noting the sensitivity of Jewish settlement in Sheikh Jarrah, Dr. Meir Margalit (Meretz), who heads the east Jerusalem Portfolio, summarily dismissed the decision to build another yeshiva there as a “clear provocation” against the neighborhood’s Palestinian residents.

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
I am confused. Ohr Somayach is located on the west side of Road No. 1. Ma'aloth Dafnah and Arzei Birah are the names of the neighborhoods.

This is a "clear provocation?" How so?

The most dangerous element of this picture: A Haredi boy holding up the Zionist flag.
SSSHHH! Don't tell anyone!

Someone needs to have a geography lesson and/or be clearer in what he is trying to communicate to us here.

On the other side of Road No. 1, part of the mythical Green Line, is the neighborhood of Shimon HaTzadiq, named for the great Hakham (Sage) who is buried there. The so-called "Sheikh Jarrah" neighbor was always considered, by the Arabs, to be north of this area up to the Mt. Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University, which found itself "on the other side," after the smoke cleared from Israel's War of Independence in 1948/תש"ח.

In other words, the neighborhood Arabs and Leftists call Sheikh Jarrah is not even where the Leftists think it is, not to mention the Arabs themselves, trying to keep up with the Pallywood script changes.

Let us let the reporter of this article off the hook for the moment, and assume for the sake of argument, that the proposed building is actually on the east side of Road No. 1.

"Sensitivity of Jewish settlement?" Huh?

These homes are JEWISH homes, reclaimed from Arab squatters who have living in them rent-free since as long ago as 1948/תש"ח, Israel's War of Independence, fought against, none other than... Arabs.

feeding time...

Should the Jews give up on reclaiming the property stolen from them by the Nazis? By the Iraqi

Furthermore, I do not hear anyone complaining about the provocation of Hebrew University's presence in so-called "East Jerusalem." Maybe that's because it is the academic jewel of Israel, and Jerusalem's brainwashing indoctrination and distribution center for Left-Wing/assimilationist propaganda.

The following is a video of the regular tour of the Shimon HaTzadiq neighbor given by Yehonathan "Yoni" Yosef, son of Rabbi Ya'aqov Yosef ztz"l, and grandson of the Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef ztz"l.

During this tour, Yoni recounts the history of the neighborhood, and its extensive Jewish roots and character. When his grandfather was a young man, he was a (ba'al qeriah (Torah reader) for this neighborhood, and remembered quite well the Jewish residents, whose families had lived there for generations.

סיור מודרך בשכונת שמעון הצדיק - לשעבר שייח ג'ראח

Did you notice the make-up of the tour group he was leading? Diverse, and that means dangerous. Jewish unity is simply too much for the Erev Rav controlled government to deal with.

Let's give them more of it, while we are recounting the true, Jewish history of our Homeland.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's Passing: This is a test; this is only a test....

ערב שבת קודש פר' לך-לך תשע"ד

Rabbi Ovadiah
Yosef ztz"l

Some of you will be critical of me for writing such a post so soon after the passing of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef ztz"l, Chief Sepharadi Rabbi of Israel (5733-5743), and major spiritual leader and adjudicator of halakhah (Torah Law) within the Sephardi and Mizrahi communities until this day.

However, if you actually pay attention while reading this post, you will notice that it does not contain anything even remotely negative about Rav Ovadiah. In fact, other than the mention of his passing, it does not contain anything about him at all.

In anticipation of the potential chaos and traffic jams due to the funeral of Rav Ovadiah at 6:00 PM, it was announced that public transportation would be shut down by 3:00 PM.
That made absolutely no sense to me at all. Why not simply clear the streets needs for the funeral procession? In fact, the procession was apparently shortened in order to lessen the inconvenience to the City and it residents. The procession could have started at Rav Ovadiah's home in Har Nof, a neighborhood in the far west of Jerusalem. But, it did not. Rather it began not so far away at all from his final resting place in Sanhdria (Bar-Ilan Junction), in the Center-North of the City.

So, why was there a need to shut down public transportation in the South or West coming into the Center and Central Bus Station? There wasn't any at all. This was announced on various news site, but neither on the local bus and light rail websites, which are usually pretty good about posting this kind of news flash, change in service information. It is certainly possible that they posted their changes in services not so much later than when I checked them between 3:30 and 4:00 PM.

Jerusalem is no stranger to traffic inconveniences, with this Head of State or that Envoy arriving to tell the Israeli government what it should or should not do. New blockades pop up, buses are rerouted, and that's the end of it. The same has for demonstrations, even those which have whole chunks of the City, like the Beis Yisro'el, Shmu'el HaNavi, and Meah She'arim neighborhoods, and the Bukharim Quarter all at once!

Granted there was an unprecedented attendance of an estimated 850,000 people. But was the government really able to foresee this? Was the government simply be cautious?

Nonetheless, some businesses were closing early, either because owners and their employees wanted to attend the funeral, or because of concerns about getting home themselves.

Meanwhile the Egged Bus Company announced providing extra intercity buses to Jerusalem from Ashdod, B'nei B'raq and Beth Shemesh, to handle the anticipated number of out of town attendees. This did make sense.

By around 5:00 PM, intra-city transportation was back in business, if it was ever out of service in the first place. Service was limited, and trains and buses were packed to capacity. Again, this simply did not make sense. Why limited? Operators and drivers had already gone home, and could not be recalled? Odd....

Twitter was all a buzz about the funeral.

And then I saw...

Unlike in the U. S. where it is supposed to be against the law [usually] to use the military as a police force (Posse Comitatus), the Israeli government does not have that "inconvenience."

Now Imagine This:
How does a government get 850,000 people, in Israel's case, one seventh (1/7) of its population, into a confined area in a matter of hours, including having them get on buses of their own accord, and even get there on their own dime (ie. sheqqel)?

...in particular, 850,000 of the great threat to said government: Religious Jews, who hold The Almighty and His Torah to be on a much higher level of authority than the government.

Pack trains and buses to the brim. Throw in a little panick for good measure, like a gas leak, for example, and every will simply do what they are told to do, by the almighty government which "protects and takes care of us."

If big rabbi or popular political figure wasn't available for "dying," then all the "powers that be" [PTB] would have to do is kidnap one, assuming he would not be willing to collaborate of his own accord, course, in theory this kind of lie would only work once.

Of course, such a big fat lie would only work once,...theoretically. But, it would only have to work once.

In a country where the mainstream (Read: Left-wing controlled) news media is filled with...

1. Fear Iran
2. Fear the situation in Syria, (Read: Israelis must unify and avoid dissent) 
3. Do not worry about the situation in Egypt (because it's too far away and they'll always be our "friends," right?)
4. Ignore any turmoil in Jordan and Turkey (We wouldn't want to frighten the "sheeple!")
5. And that the U. S. will always be there to protect us.

...we are too distracted to see the real threat: The Israeli Government, which only eight years ago threw out almost 10,000 Jews from their homes, gave their lands to Hamas, which has simply continued firing rockets at us ever since.

(Click for links to individual memorial pages.)

Twelve years before that, it gave weapons to the Pseudostinian Authority, which has been using them to kill Jews.

Now, the Israeli Government has its eyes peered at the over 200,000 thousand Jews living in Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria).

"sheeple" = sheep + people

The Oslo "Death" Accords (1993) did not die with the death of Oslo supporter Rabbi Ovadiah ztz"l. No doubt, his death and message with be used, manipulated, and invoked in order to surrender more land, and to kick more Jews out of their homes in the heartland of the Divinely Promised Land of Israel.

In the meantime, plenty of data was gathered during his funeral, to be used to devise ways and means to keep the "sheeple" quietly tucked away in their pens, while the Israeli Government carries out,...well,...whatever it chooses to carry out.

Rabbi Ovadiah ztz"l and the Arabs

ה' לחודש השמיני תשע"ד

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef ztz"l

YNET: אבו מאזן הביע את תנחומיו על פטירתו של הרב עובדיה יוסף

אליאור לוי, 07.10.13
הנשיא הפלסטיני אבו מאזן הביע את תנחומיו על פטירתו של הרב עובדיה יוסף. "נפגשתי עם בני משפחתו של הרב במוקטעה ברמאללה בעבר ואני רוצה להעביר את תנחומיי ואת תנחומי העם הפלסטיני על מותו", אמר אבו מאזן.

הנשיא הפלסטיני אמר את הדברים במהלך מפגש במוקטעה ברמאללה עם חברי שדולת פתרון שתי המדינות בראשות חבר הכנסת חיליק בר ממפלגת העבודה.

YNET: Abu Mazen expressed his condolences over the passing of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef

Elior Levy, October 7, 2013

The Palestinian President Abu Mazen expressed his condolences over the passing of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. "I have met with members of the Rabbi's family at the Muqatah in Ramallah in the past, and I would like to pass on my condolences and the condolences of the Palestinian People over his passing," said Abu Mazen.

The Palestinian President said these during a meeting at the Muqatah in Ramallah with the members of a Two-State Solution lobby led by MK Hiliq Bar of the Labor Party.

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
When I first heard the Rav Ovadiah died, the first thing I search for on the Internet was news as to how the Arabs were reacting. I thought for sure that I would find photos of Pseudostinian Arabs cheering over his death, just like during the First Gulf War when the scuds from Iraq hit Tel-Aviv, on 9/11, and during the Second Lebanon War, even when Hezbollah Qetusha rockets killed their own in Nazareth.

Obviously, I searched too soon,...and I didn't search in Arabic.

What I did find was the above newsflash from YNET.

If nothing else, it reveals just how complex Rav Ovadiah was. He threatened former Prime Minister Menahem Begin with a withdrawal of support in government if he carried out a his promised withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. On the other hand, Rav Ovadiah supported the Oslo Accords, and ruled that it was acceptable to give up land for the sake of piqu'ah nefesh (saving/protecting life). His Sha"S Party could easily have killed the Oslo Accords, but instead, abstained from the vote.

They want it all!

But, the biggest puzzle seems to be Abu Mazen's comments, considering just how much Rav Ovadiah did not care for Arabs. Even if he had differentiated between these Arabs and those Arabs, I doubt that would please Abu Mazen.

So, what motivated Abu Mazen to make the comments he did? Appreciation for Rav Ovadiah's role in the passage of the Oslo Accords? Or just pure politics?

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef: Racist or Realist?

ד' לחודש השמיני תשע"ד

Rabbi Ovadiah
Yosef ztz"l

Facebook Friend:
Rabbi Ovadya Yosef died today. Even though I disagreed with a lot of his halakhic decrees and his more controversial (racist) opinions, he was nonetheless deserving of respect and it's sad to see him go.

Barukh Dayyan Emeth.

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
And you call yourself a Rambamist?? What do you mean you disagreed with his "racist" opinions?

For goodness sakes! I suppose that "these Yishma'elim (Arab) are different than those Yishma'elim?" This is a Western, and non-Jewish, concept, that of innocent civilians in a milhemeth misswah.

Please review the Ramba"m's own Laws of Kings and Wars.

On a practical level, who better would know Yishma'elim and their nature, than an Arabic speaker who was born in Iraq, grew up in the "East" Jerusalem, and resided for a time Egypt?

Rav Ovadiah's grandson Yehonathan continues to work at getting Jewish homes lost during Israel's War of Independence returned to their rightful owners, after Yishma'eli squatters have been living in them rent-free for the past 65 years.

Have you lost it?!

וְהוּא יִהְיֶה, פֶּרֶא אָדָם--יָדוֹ בַכֹּל, וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ; וְעַל-פְּנֵי כָל-אֶחָיו, יִשְׁכֹּן.
בראשית טז,יב

And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren. 
Genesis 16:12

...not to mention the countless references to the descendants of Yishma'el (who did NOT do teshuvah) in the Tana"kh, writings of HaZa"L, and the Rishonim, including the Ramba"m.

Why do think your parents believe it to be dangerous for you to be here in Israel? Are Jews the ones shooting rockets at themselves in the South AND in the North? Are Jews the ones going around shooting nine-year old girls?

Gee, I guess that makes me a racist, too, huh?!