Unbelievable! You would expect to hear this from an Ayatollah in Iran, not a Rabbi in Israel. This is an insult to the people killed in the Southern USA and are allies in the US themselves. The pulling out from Gaza and lack the ridiculous comment of the lack of reading of the Torah by the black populus has nothing to with the hurricane and floods and it insulting and zealous to say so, why alienate a country that traditionally supports the Jewish state!?! Sometimes Jews are their own worst enemy!

Rabbi, I respectfully ask you to stop looking like Mollahs Refrain from calling upon God as castigating the world for jew's sake.Even if true.Your are not entitled to misguide our faith of love,compassion,charity, help and modesty.Especially after our european ordeal I should rather like to hear you calling for public priers for wounded America ,our only friend.

This man is an idiot, and everytime he opens his mouth, more ridiculous statements come out.

From reading the statement of Ovadia (No this person cannot be a Rabbi), on the subject of the Huricane that brought about large scale damage and death among other things in this country of mine (The United States of America), I feel that the statements of someone that calls himself a Rabbi is a statement of HATE as well as the words of an Evil person. How can someone that believes in the Torah and what it stands for say such things? And to use G-D as the conduit for his hatred. This is not a Rabbi and I have no idea how someone can call themselves such when I have such respect for those of the cloth who I once thought so highly of. This is someone that is more like the those that served with Hitler in his wanting to bring death to a people no matter who they are. I think this MR. Ovadia was born a bit too late and should have fit right in with the Nazi's. It might be possible that he would like to set up some camps like Hitler had so that he can rid this planet of anyone who does not agree with his thinking of what is right and what is wrong. Whatever Israeli's think of the United States, they might want to look at history and see that even if we are not perfect, and who is? That without our assistance during the early years of the formation of Israel in the late 1940's and to present time, without our help with arms that we supplied to keep Israel from being destroyed this person would not even be here to say these things. For those that feel that the United States deserved this then let them send back all the support that we have offered over the years. This guy is not a holly person. I don't care how he defends himself. He sounds like someone that should be living within the ranks of those that would destroy Israel. Is he for real? G-D this person is sick and should seek help.

MORON..

The statement that Rabbi Ovadia made that hurricanes are punishment for evil reflects the Rabbi's total ignorance of what hurricanes are. The American residents of Louisiana and Mississippi had nothing to do with the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif. So why should Americans be punished for the policies of their leader, many of whom probably never voted for Bush anyway? Hurricanes have been around for centuries, and will continue. If you fear hurricanes, move away from America's eastern and Southern coast. Move to Denver, Colorado. No hurricanes there.

It would probably be better to either not publish this kind of nonsense by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef or if felt that it should be published then hide it away somewhere. People all over the world read this kind of thing and see us as members of a primitive religion.

You stupid ignorant little man... how can anyone blame this disaster on politics... Go crawl back into your little hole before you do any more harm...

I don't usually pick on rabbis, even those who occasionally say ... ummm, questionable ... things, but honestly, this is one of the most idiotic, offensive pronouncements I've seen yet about the hurricane. It rivals the kind of idiocy we've seen from Islamic extremists. Rabbi Yosef has obviously never been to the region. He has obviously never met the people who live there. Some of these people are Jewish, and many other people from the hard-hit states are religious Christians who strongly support the State of Israel (if for their own reasons). Most people in these areas are poor. None of these people had anything to do with the disengagement, which was an internal Israeli affair related to changing demographics and maintaining a Jewish state. And what the HECK is this ridiculous nonsense about black people? The color of a person's skin has absolutely NOTHING to do with his/her fitness to live -- or with his/her desire to study. Had anyone made bigoted, disgusting remarks like these about Jews (e.g. if an African American claimed that the Shoah was G-d's punishment against the Jews), we would all rightly label that person as an anti-Semite. Rabbi Yosef has compassion for 8,000 settlers who had fair warning of removal, received attractive compensation packages, survived the hitnatkut, etc. (I also feel compassion for them, btw), but he fails to show any compassion whatsoever for hundreds of thousands of poor people who have now lost everything - including some family members - and will be lucky to get anything back. While most Israelis are shocked and saddened by the disaster and want to help, a few leaders making foolish, destructive remarks can poison the atmosphere between peoples. Rest assured, the enemies of Israel will make sure that Rabbi Yosef's comments are broadcast far and wide, whereas the aid that Israel is sending takes place quietly and practically and does not make headlines. Someone please tell Rabbi Yosef to shut up until he has something constructive to say. Thanks for listening. Please help the Katrina survivors.

This ludicrous statement had to come sooner or later from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Amazing how he has become God's spokesman. This so-called self installed prophet of God's intentions ought to be treated with the contempt that he deserves. His lack of sensitivity for those who suffer as a reult of mega tragedies is not surprising.

I agree that a leading rabbi should not say these things. we are not talking about the village idiot, which would lead me to believe that things were taken out of context to make this news worthy

We are enraged when our enemies "dance on our blood". Good thing we only do that with our allies.

which was played on Israeli radio, you would not say that it was taken out of context.

I couldn't even read the article, sorry, but the headline was enough for me. Who takes this guy seriously, with his ridiculous sunglasses and tulband.... time for the government to separate religion and state and MAYBE then Israel can join the 21st century......

the disengagement this hurricane developed into a cadaverous force of historical proportion? I believe that this article was dishonest, and unfair. It used selective quotes and translations and 'Cokamammie' exaggerations.

Not to the words of Ovadia. Just so it's clear.

There is aboslutely no differences between the message of Ovadia who talks about "God's punishement, and the messages of any Islamic extremists rejoicing lately upon this tragedy. The men who spoke these words have in fact the same characteristics,hatred in the name of God, a superiority complex which borders the mania and such needs to be adressed by specialized medical personel, and an extremely poor knowledge of their own faith. Orthodoxes and ultra-orthodoxes will be associated now on with this kind of statement. This is enough to turn "simple people" in Jew-haters, and I am sure that some will indeed just do that after reading this incredible statement. What a shame for the "jewish Nation" ! What a shame that there are actually people who will agree with him...Poor Israel, may be after all the story is true that "though will have to pay the price for Thy sins"...

When faced with any kind of situation, we always have the choice of choosing to think it was just a coincidence, mother nature etc... Because G-d has hidden Himself and wants to see whether we are looking for Him in everything. When anything happens the believer will always think 'what is G-d trying to teach me'. The hebrew word for coincidence is "Mikre". When the letters are rearranged they form the words "Rak MeHashem" which means 'only from G-d'. In the talmud it says that not a blade of grass moves without it being decreed in Heaven first. If most people prefer to think that this hurricane and its strength was plain meteorology then they are simply playing the ostrich. G-d is good enough to give us warnings. Remember Pharoh, it took ten calamities on his country till he decided to lay off the Jews. Let's hope for America's sake Bush will be less stubborn.

Mollah Ovadia, who represent just a minor fraction of the Orthodox and ultra orthodox fringe is suffering from memory failure and additionally when God provided mankind with a brain, he was probably nowhere to be reached since he forgot to mention that It was because of Amricans unflailing support to Israel that he is still alive today. This attempt , once more , by so called religious leaders to violently agress democratically elected politician (s) is characteristic of the National-Socialist ideology and methods. Remember that it was the Jews fault for everything which happened before the " dark years". It has also a bit of Al-Qaeda flavor, since apparently the only God ruling is Mollah Ovadia's, and the only right way to see the worl is through Shas glasses. In his days, Chairman Mao use to say that Religion was people's opium....May be Mollah Ovadia has smoked too much of it and it has screwed up whatever non-brain he may have....but I forget, Mollah Ovadia is so rightful ( and let not forget his bank account !!!) that he has never smoked in his whole life....This is exactly where too much Yeshiva can get you....!

This man and his political party are living off of public funds!!! We are the idiot taxpayers for allowing this to go on.

like al qaida said also. you're in good company.

...to be Sephardi. This is on the same level as various Xian lunatics saying AIDS is haShem's retribution for homosexuality and other such tripe. The Disengagement was a noble and ultimately humanitarian endeavor. If Bush is punished for anything, it should be his murderous and illegal war in Iraq.

We have been warned repeatedly of these travails that will fall upon all of us, yet we, like the last talkback comment suggests are playing the ostrich. Those who do know there G-d will know and will try to instruct many, but as you can clearly see, most hearts are hardened just as Pharoh's was. May G-d have mercy on us all. Until then...

let's say that it was 'G*d's will that there this catastrophe occured .. why connect this to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza ? No reason !

Michael.... luckily , everyone knows that Judaism is not primitive....however, the risk becomes a political one as the rest of the world does not make the difference between scumbags like Mollah Ovadia and the rest of the Jews living in Israel... This is the result of the systemic interference for years of so called religious and spiritual leaders with the affairs of the state....As long as Israel will remain a " Theocratic democracy" there will be no quietness nor peace around. It is time for a major shake up my friend.....

...but I am sure there will be soon one, given the time difference between New York and Tel Aviv.... And of course she will say that Mollah Ovadia is correct ....you wanna bet ?

Ovadia Yosef is no rabbi, but an idiot. Besides a total lack of compassion on his part, he shows that his mind has gone completely. The only place for him is an insane asylum.

You haven't gone far enough. 'What is G-d trying to teach me/the world?' Even if you cannot be 100% sure you've come up with the right answer, at least you are searching. Whoever really searches for the truth will find it. That's another given the Talmud reassures us of.

The guys a torah scholar, Knesset Member Ronny Brison just makes an ass of himself by these comments.