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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Scraping the barrel
By Graham Usher
Just when it seemed things could not get worse for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, they did. Bereft of a majority government since he flew to Camp David on 6 August he started the Herculean task of rebuilding his coalition, wooing again the secularist Meretz movement for its "left" flank and the Sephardi Orthodox movement, Shas, for its "right."
Rabbi Yosef during a lecture to supporters at a local synagogue this week where he ignited Arab and Jewish fury by calling Arabs "snakes" and saying Jews died in the Holocaust because they were reincarnated souls of sinners
(photo: Reuters)
Unfortunately for the Israeli leader, the spiritual leader of Shas -- and arguably the second most important man in Israeli politics -- Ovadia Yosef delivered his weekly sermon in a synagogue in Jerusalem, and once more pulled Barak's "best coalition" tumbling all about him.
In a peroration extreme even by the rabbi's standards, he gave vent to the wisdom that the six million Jews who perished in the concentration camps were not victims of the Nazi genocide. "No, they were the reincarnation of earlier souls, who sinned and caused others to sin and did all sorts of forbidden acts." Hence their punishment.
He further charged that Barak had "no brains" because he wanted to "divide the Old City" and bring "them alongside us, so they can have another opportunity to kill us." "They" are, of course, the Palestinians, or to borrow Yosef's argot, "snakes, the accursed, wicked ones, Ishmaelites" whom "the Holy One, is sorry He ever created."
Yosef's ranting drew near universal outrage. Survivors of the death camps -- led by Shinnui leader and Member of the Knesset Tommy Lapid -- described Yosef as "an old fool" who had revived the hoary old anti-Semitic myth that "all Jews are sinners" and that Hitler was thus the "instrument" of God's will.
Palestinians were similarly appalled. Parliamentarian Ahmed Tibi submitted a petition demanding that Israel's Attorney General launch a criminal investigation against Yosef for "incitement to racism and slander." It was a theme to which PLO negotiator and minister of information, Yasser Abed Rabbo, warmed. "The statements of this idiot and racist are a disgrace to every Israeli," he said. And "every Israeli stands accused of being a racist unless they condemn him."
Including, presumably, Ehud Barak. The most he could muster against Yosef's tirade was that it did "not become a rabbi of his standing" and "could hurt the memory of the victims of the Holocaust." He made no mention of the Palestinians or the other "Ishmaelites" with whom he is supposed to be making peace.
