Cherifa Sirry

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef , spiritual head of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party which forms part of Israel’s ruling coalition, criticized US president Barack Obama on Saturday describing him as "a slave" who rules the world and who wants to control Israeli policy when it comes to building in occupied Jerusalem. In his weekly sermon, Yosef protested that "American insidiousness tells us to build here and not to build there as though we were slaves working for them" then he adds that "We live in a time when slaves are governing us and are trying to control us" refusing the US administration request to stop illegal settlement building on Palestinian occupied territories.

"We are not employees of the Americans.. and Israel does not work for the United States!" asserted Yosef. The Rabbi then addressed the Haram al Sharif (Dome of the Rock) issue saying: "and where is our temple?! The situation there is cause for grief! There is nothing there but evil Arabs who are occupying our lands… and I hope that the messiah will appear soon to destroy them."

An Israeli government official has publicly insulted the president of the United States and US Zionist controlled media has of course kept a lid on the story. Israeli apartheid and racism is no longer just confined to us 'evil Arabs', it now goes all the way to the president of the United States. While criticizing and insulting the American president is of no consequence to Israelis, criticizing Israel or the Jews is of course unacceptable, "anti-Semitic" and can even lead to legal procedures in the US and Europe. Even the FBI last week has been accused of being "anti-Semitic" for having arrested a few Rabbis in New Jersey. Will Americans allow Israelis to call the US president "a slave" without so much as asking for an official apology from the Israeli government? When will Americans learn how to speak other languages in order not to be at the mercy of politicized Zionist-controlled media?

This is the Arabic source (newspaper) from which I got the text of Ovadia's sermon and translated it. I hoped that a correct English translation would appear somewhere in the past two days, but it didn't, so I translated the text.

Rabbi Ovadia slams US: We're not their slaves

"'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."

Israel religious party hits out at US over settlements

"What right do they have to tell us 'here you can build, here you can't build,'" Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in his weekly sermon, excerpts of which were re-aired on Sunday by Israeli radios.

"We are not their slaves," he said.

It marked the latest swipe in Israel at US President Barack Obama's administration over its repeated demands that the Jewish state stop all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank including annexed east Jerusalem.

The demands have created tensions between the two close allies not seen in years.

Born in Iraq in 1920, Yosef is a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel and a controversial figure who has in the past referred to Arabs and Palestinians as "snakes" and "vipers" who were "swarming like ants."

Rabbi Ovadia Attacks Obama's Policy

Rabbi Yosef said in his weekly Saturday night lecture, "They're telling us not to build here, not to build there – as if we're their servants. Servants are ruling over us. The holy Messiah will come and disperse them." Rabbi Yosef continued, "Only Torah study will bring and draw near the Messiah. Nothing else will help. Not a high school diploma nor [knowledge of] literature."

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Rabbi Ovadia slams US: We're not their slaves
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3752180,00.html

Israel religious party hits out at US over settlements
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i6Vdh2CQB36SvflWbJ_PVxw63J_A

Rabbi Ovadia Attacks Obama's Policy
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/168505

Source: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/07/28/rabbi-ovadia-describes-us-president-as-a-slave-ruling-the-world/