when the perpetrator is the OFFICIAL PA Ministry of Education and its authorized school textbooks and CHILDRENS TV programming directed by the PA itself!! The PA has OFFICIALLY called for the destruction Israel since the day it was born. The PA, PLO, Fatah, are ALL dedicated to the destruction of Israel- and NOTHING they have ever done has proved otherwise. The only time Erekat opens his mouth is to change feet. He is made in the same mold as Arafat and Abbas: he tells the West what he theinks we want to hear and tells his own people to count the days until Israel is no more. I guess it's just not PC to have a Jew say the very same thing about Arabs that the 'moderate' Arabs have been saying about us for years!

I am sick of listening to the constant calls for violence and death for Jews and Israelis, but a rabbi calls on Gd to remove this plague of a people and it becomes an international incident. He PA--if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. If people got this upset every time the PA and our other neighbors called for our demise there would not be enough paper to print it on.

The Rabbi has quoted from the Rosh Hashana Lituergy "that all our enemies be vanquished" To which I and all sensible Jews will say Amen. Let the Palistinians prove they are not our enemy, since they and their buddies have been seeking to destroy us for as lomng as I can remember. The Rabbi also said in the same speech that that he supports peace and that land can be given up for genuine peace. So what's your point Becky?

When actors, playwrights, professors, university lecturers, human rights organizations etc utter a word or criticism regarding the illegal Israel settlements or the dismal human rights record of the IDF/Israeli Gov they are branded ‘Jew haters’ and every action is taken to stifle their voices. Yet when an Israeli, in this case a rabbi, brands an entire people and their leader as “evil” and should be “destroyed” it is called ‘freedom of speech’, a ‘virtue’ of a democratic society. Where is the ‘virtue’ in calling for the destruction of an entire People?! Hate speech uttered by Arabs/Palestinians/etc does not give licence to Israelis to do the same; there is no justification for hate speech by any party. Sadly this is a moral principle which is lost on most Ynuts here.

rebecca; The real embarrasment to Judaism and Israel are blind cowards like you, who even if find some guts to say something, they speek from one side of their mouth.. You are the embarassment to the Humanity and to the best there is in the Human Values - the right to protect a life from innihilation.....

stand what he is saying anyway.Erekat your a bigger moron than the Rabbi for listening to that mumbo jumbo.Just sit down and talk peace.

It's more likely God has given us the Palestinians (who have become "pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides") in order to test us. Like the prophet Moses wrote, "....for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul....." etc.

Go to www.memritv.org and listen carefully to the rantings of Islamic religious and political leaders. I'd pay more attention to that when bitch slapping Erekat around than to anything Ovadia Yosef says. I'm tired of the whining of the self appointed leaders of the Arabs that No Body Wants. That's why they set up a national liberation myth, no other arab nation wanted these slobs.

asked for it it will happen, but not by Jews but by Hamas.

With gaining land a close second with racism used to keep wars going. What has cause this change for the worst in Israel the last few year?

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is one of the greatest Rabbis of our generation. His word is Law and every word of his is taken very seriously by ALL orthodox Jews worldwide and by non-Jews alike. It's liberal Jews like you who are not trusted and are not respected neither by Jews nor by goyim. Words from the mouth of this holy Rabbi is what causes Erekat and other Arabs to shake in their pants because they know his word is not to be taken lightly.

and Pals expect restraint in Israeli statements? I don't like the Rabbi's statements, Pals have no standing to complain when they honor murderers of Jews. I also recall that Abbas similarly honored Kuntar and allowed streets to be named for suicide bombers. The rabbi's comments are not as extreme as the actions of Abbas.

are just as bad. Let the nations of the world know that we stand proud and don't worry from them, but only from G-d.

Agree with you 100%.

Look Matty, what this loony toon says is stupid and wrong. But also irrelevant, he has no popular support among the average Jewish Israeli. These kinds of statements are made weekly if not on a daily basis in the Arab world. As I pointed out in my earlier post, Hamas just stated this; "the Izz-a-Din al-Qassam Brigades will step on the heads of those who dare cede the right of return, Jerusalem, and Palestine". In this quote the inclusion of "and Palestine is code, among the "Arab street" it means the destruction of all, modern day Israel, period!! Besides it being a direct death threat to any Palestinian or Arab leader, that supports "direct talks". Hamas has NOT changed it Charter which calls for 3 things: 1) No recognition of Israel, Hamas has NOT recognized Israel. 2) No negotiation with Israel (Zionist entity), Hamas as we see from the above statement, is making death threats to those who would negotiate in the "direct talks". 3) Destroy Israel; again the above statement states quite clearly Hamas "will step on the heads" of those who ":cede"... "Palestine". The street code for all of Israel. Currently Hamas has made good on 2 out of 3 of their Charter's promises. Yet you whine about one silly Rabbi that has no popular support. While Hamas controls half of what will become the state of Palestine. AMAZING, as you say. Then of course you complain about some people being branded "Jew Haters", to "stifle speech" as you put it. Yet, where is the stifled speech? Israel is the most open country in the region. That's why we both can write what we want, here in this paper, or any Israeli paper. Show us any paper in the Muslim world that allows this kind of open exchange. Let me help you, THERE ARE NONE. So much for "stifled speech", CASE CLOSED, CLASS ADJOURNED.

As a Jewish woman, I deplore those statements calling for harm to Abbas and the Palestinian people, as much as I am sickened by statements of that sort from the Palestinians about the Jews. It's wrong, no matter who is saying it, it is wrong. These sentiments may reflect the views of some Jewish people, who have becoming nearly crazy due to the prolonged, tragic hostilities---but it does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of most of the Jewish people. Compassion should be shown to the Palestinian people and at every opportunity efforts for peace should be made, regardless of the difficulties. This conflict is making people extreme and sick on both sides, and there are those in the world who are fanning the hatred for their own rotten reasons.

Based on the quote I saw in INN all he said was to wish a plague on Israel enemies and Abbas. One wishing death on one individual is not genocide, and two enemies does not mean or was it named a specific group of people. Check the facts before printing articles like this. Israel has enough PR problems without exaggerated journalism. http://ralphsrant1.blogspot.com

The Palestinian leaders and their imams are always calling for the genocide of Jews. Here are the Palestinians in their own words. www.palwatch.org/

to Dyslexic : Funny, how your name matches in perfect harmony with your perceptions of the Great Rabbi Ovadia Yosef...No wonder you can't understand ! Why then post ?

The Rabbi said nothing about "destruction." Stop spinning. Yet when an Iranian mullah or ayatollah and Palestianian imams routinely call for the destruction of the "Zionist entity" and for the extermination of the Jewish people, you are strangely silent. Well -- maybe not strangely. We all know how you feel and we realize that your moral principles have no problem with hate speech from Iran, or Hamas, or Hizbollah. And nothing that the Rabbi said even approaches the venom coming out of Tehran and its terrorist toadies. Why are your "moral principles" so fungible?

Yosef is a fool. He must be silenced.

What is all the fuss about ? This is the same kind of comments aired on the Palestinian TV every day.

ITBACH AL YAHUD and the other Arabic zevel that comes out of the pie hole of the Mufti of Al Ichtzah Would Mr. Ericut please translate the incitement in Arabic on PA TV

You have my sincere apologies and I mean this from my heart. I wish no ill on the Palestinians. The Rabbi in my opinion is evil. But Sirs, please bear in mind that every Imam and Moazin and Khadi who calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews is equally evil and we do not ask for aplogies or condemnation when they do it and it is done on a daily basis by many whereas Rabbis like this evil man are few and far between. If it was up to me I would strip him of any office or title he holds and indeed demand that the whole Knesset reprimands him.

Why people and most of all palestinians are angry by Rabbi's speech? They want the same for us 24/7 and no one is offended among them or even among the other nations. So don't be ashamed and if Bibi Netanyahou could think about those words before giving our country into their hands, he would earn our respect. So...

But i doubt mr.Matty here cares, all he needs is excuses to blame Israel without even caring if he is right.

It must be stopped; Hareidism that is. What was once a pietistic, even charming branch of Judaism, has become a very malignant cancer. Spitting on Christian clergy in Jerusalem; violence against women because they carry a Sefer Torah or put on Tephillin; and now a Hareidi rabbi calling for genocide of Palestinians. It must come to an end. We must tell the Hareidim that if this kind of behavoir continues, we can no longer regard them as our brothers and sisters. By and large, I take a right wing position on Israeli politics, but I totally reject the Hareidi cancer. It must be expunged NOW. Rabbi Ephraim Rubinger

While there may be elements of truth in some of his comments rabbi Ovadia Yosef needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut. He seems to suffer from a unique Israeli affliction called foot in mouth disease.