Religious fundamentalism poses a threat to any secular, liberal society. But in Israel, the impact can be especially toxic:
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Sunday slammed remarks by the spiritual leader of Israel's leading ultra-Orthodox party, who said the Palestinians should "perish", saying that it was paramount to incitement to genocide.
Erekat called on the Israeli government to denounce the remarks by Israel's former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and to take action against racist remarks by other elected officials. He also criticized Israel for allowing the incident to pass without condemnation.
Yosef had said during his weekly Shabbat sermon that the Palestinians, namely Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, should perish from the world. Yosef, a founder of the Shas Party, also described Palestinians as evil, bitter enemies of Israel.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is not just some obscure fringe figure in Israel:
According to Zahalka, Yosef is not a minor public figure, but a spiritual leader than has hundreds of thousands that follow his religious edicts, and his comments can be understood as permission to kill Palestinians. Zahalka added, "If, heaven forbid, a Muslim spiritual leader were to make anti-Jewish comments of this sort, he would be arrested immediately."
Here is what the Rabbi said in his weekly sermon:
Yosef had said during his weekly Shabbat sermon that the Palestinians, namely Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, should perish from the world. Yosef, a founder of the Shas Party, also described Palestinians as evil, bitter enemies of Israel.
"All these evil people should perish from this world ... God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians," Yosef had said.
Fundamentalist leaders like Rabbi Yousef don't just hate Palestinians. They also hate non-orthodox Jews, liberals, women, and gays. And, apparently, musicians:
A singer who performed in front of a "mixed audience" of men and women was lashed 39 times to make him "repent," after a ruling by a self-described rabbinic court on Wednesday.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, founder of the Shofar organization aimed at bringing Jews "back to religion" (hazara betshuva), has made it his recent mission to fight against musical performances for both men and women.
His "judicial panel," with Rabbi Ben Zion Mutsafi and another member, sentenced Erez Yechiel to 39 lashes in order to "rid him of his sins."