Shas is an important part of Netanyahu's coalition, representing the religious nationalist right. The spiritual leader of Shas is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, pictured in his colorful outfit.
From Ynet's report on Rabbi Yosef's weekly sermon Saturday night, in which he said that Obama is turning Israelis into "slaves" by attempting to impose a settlement freeze in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Then offered some prophetic solutions:
"'You can't build here, you can't build there' – it's as if we were their slaves," the rabbi protested. "We are being ruled by slaves," he said," adding that, "Our messiah will come and throw them out." Rabbi Ovadia also bemoaned the current reality in the Temple Mount, saying: "Where is our temple? There are Arabs there!" He then promised that the messiah "will throw all these evil ones out of here."
Thanks to Jeff Blankfort, who writes: "Another story that will not be 'fit to print.' Look at the uniform on this nutcase. What values do American share with him?"
It’s the ones who won’t wait for the Messiah that I worry about.
Messianism can be destructive (see: Bar Kochba, Shabtai Tzvi, the Lubavitcher Rebbe), but waiting for the Messiah is relatively harmless.
This seems like a definite continuation of the “Obama is the new Pharaoh” idea that some Zionists are pushing these days.
Images of prominent rabbis and Jewish businessmen being cuffed and arrested after morning prayers filled the front pages under headlines trumpeting the discovery of the “Jewish laundry” used to bribe prominent New Jersey officials allegedly using Israeli charities. In particular, Israeli commentators seized on the connection between several of those arrested and prominent figures in Shas, the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi Torah Guardians Party, founded by the octogenarian Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who remains its spiritual leader.
Among those arrested on July 23 were Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim and Rabbi Edmund Nahum, who are reportedly close to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and his son, Rabbi David Yosef. Ben Haim and Nahum were allegedly major fundraisers for Shas and Yosef family networks of educational institutions. According to a report on Israeli television, Rabbi David Yosef was also said to have been the target of Solomon Dwek, the FBI’s chief informant, who asked the rabbi to help him launder a check for $25,000. David Yosef reportedly declined.
link to time.com
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, referred to President Barack Obama as a “slave’ with plans to rule the world and monopolize affairs in Tel Aviv.
link to hiphopwired.com
‘One of the major figures arrested in the suspected money laundering case is Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, who is considered very close to Rabbi David Yosef, one of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s sons. Ben Haim is also active in the Ovadia family’s Yechave Daat organization. Rabbi David Yosef is the head of the Yechave Daat Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Ben Haim has been involved in raising funds from rich Syrian-Jewish families in the U.S. for various Shas institutions, and most of these donations are expected to stop – at least for now.
Another person arrested in the affair is Rabbi Edmund Nahum, who is considered very close to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef himself. Nahum was also involved in raising funds for the Yosef family institutions. The Israel Police and the Justice Ministry’s Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority will soon start investigating the Shas and other Sephardic institutions’ yeshivas implicated in the scandal. The investigation may also include the banks suspected of transferring the allegedly tainted funds.’
link to failedmessiah.typepad.com