.jpg "Photo: Reuters, Alex Kolomoisky")
Iran's President Rouhani (L) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yosef
Photo: Reuters, Alex Kolomoisky
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Haredim fume over TV show comparing Chief Rabbi and Iranian president
State-funded TV show asks children to attempt to discern who is Iranian, showing them pictures of Iran's President Rouhani and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yosef; Haredim blast ‘outrageous’ program.
Haredi media was in uproar last week over a TV show that compared the appearance of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef.
In a satire talk show on the Kan 11 television channel, children were showed several figures and asked which one was Iranian. Rouhani's picture was followed by that of Rabbi Yosef, dressed in his traditional garb—a robe adorned with gold ornaments and a hat similar in shape to the one worn by the Iranian president.
"Your're showing the same man, what's wrong with you?" one girl quipped, and was met with laughter from the rest of the children.
.jpg "Iran's President Rouhani (L) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yosef (Photo: Reuters, Alex Kolomoisky)")
Iran's President Rouhani (L) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yosef (Photo: Reuters, Alex Kolomoisky)
"He's also Iranian—glasses, a beard and a thing on his head," another boy added.
The program was aired earlier this month, but this segment from it was only circulated on Haredi social media over the weekend.
The segment from the TV show
The ultra-Orthodox news website Kikar HaShabbat called it a "scandal."
MK Michael Malkieli (Shas) quickly responded, calling the comparison between the two "outrageous,"
"I would expect more from the public broadcasting corporation," he said.
Haredi journalist Yishai Cohen lamented the irony of how the channel broadcasting the program is funded by taxpayer money—particularly his, adding he feels "shame and disgust" over this.
