Shas Leader on Iran: “Obliterate Them from the Face of the Earth”

This weekend brought news of the latest set of inflammatory comments by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of Shas — the ultra-Orthodox party that is currently the fourth largest party in Israel’s Knesset. Yosef — whose previous statements regarding Arabs… Continue Reading

The Theopolitics of Disaster: Sex, the Sabbath and the Occupation

When a Shiite prayer leader blames earthquakes in Iran on immodestly dressed and promiscuous women, neocons like Michael Ledeen snicker.

When a prominent ultra-orthodox Jewish spiritual and political leader–and former Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel–agrees with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that the fire that’s been destroying Israel’s Carmel Forest is a punishment from God, there’s stunned silence. Continue Reading