Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has slammed his Sephardic counterpart in Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, for making “deeply offensive” remarks about black people, comparing them to monkeys.
Yosef drew criticism last week, for comparing, during one of his weekly religious lessons, black people with monkeys, referring to them using the pejorative term in Israel, “kushi.”
UK’s Chief Rabbi Slams Israeli Counterpart For Calling Black People ‘Monkeys’ – https://t.co/LUVAO38RGe
— The Forward (@jdforward) March 23, 2018
“We don’t say a blessing for every kushi … He needs to be a kushi whose father and mother are white … if you know, they had a monkey for a son,” Rabbi Yosef said, according to Days of Palestine.
Delivering a sermon last week, Mirvis said that the comments, which were made in the context of a Talmudic discussion, were “totally unacceptable” and said that his office “has contacted the Chief Rabbinate in Israel directly” to voice its objections.
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League also rebuked Rabbi Yosef for his derogatory comments.
Israel’s chief Rabbi calls black ppl monkeys and not a squeak out of the western powers but any criticism of Israel’s policies is considered anti-semitism.. amazing pic.twitter.com/qjFhac1psn
— Changez Shafi (@ChangezShafi) March 24, 2018
The New York City-based organisation devoted to battling anti-Semitism and racism called Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s comments “racially charged” and “utterly unacceptable.”
(IMEMC, PC, Social Media)
