Sephardi Chief Rabbi Accuses Military Police of Ethnic Profiling: 'They Only Arrest Sephardim, Not Ashkenazim'

Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef delivered a blistering attack on military draft enforcement last week, accusing the IDF's Military Police of systematically targeting Sephardic yeshiva students while deliberately avoiding their Ashkenazi counterparts in what he characterized as ethnic discrimination within the haredi community.

During a chizuk address to young yeshiva students, Rabbi Yosef — son of the late spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef — unleashed an unusually direct critique of the ongoing arrests of Torah scholars, declaring that enforcement authorities "won't dare start with the Ashkenazim" and instead focus exclusively on Sephardic bnei Torah.

"I don't know how this can be, but they arrest specifically Sephardim," Rabbi Yosef stated, according to reports from the session. "That's how it is. With the Ashkenazim they won't dare start — not Bornstein, not Morgenstern. Only with the Sephardim they start."

Invoking His Father's Legacy

The Chief Rabbi's remarks came amid escalating tensions over military enforcement operations targeting yeshiva students, with dozens of young Torah scholars detained in recent weeks and transferred to military prison for refusing conscription summons. The wave of arrests has triggered massive protests across central Israel and prompted haredi municipal leaders to threaten severing all cooperation with police.

Rabbi Yosef invoked the memory of his father, the revered Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, to underscore the gravity of the current crisis. "If Maran were alive, I don't know what he would do," the Chief Rabbi declared. "To arrest a ben Torah and put him in prison? Maran wouldn't sleep at night if something like this happened."

The Rishon LeTzion described witnessing his father's profound anguish over Torah students facing persecution. "We grew up in his home, we saw his love for bnei Torah," Rabbi Yosef stated. "What pain he would have — they arrest a yeshiva student for the crime of learning Torah?"

A Pattern of Sephardic Targeting

Rabbi Yosef's explosive charge of ethnic profiling echoes concerns voiced by Sephardic Torah students themselves during recent protests, where demonstrators carried signs declaring "Stop arresting Sephardim" and voiced frustration over what they described as systematic targeting by military enforcement authorities.

The Chief Rabbi's use of the surnames "Bornstein" and "Morgenstern" — stereotypically Ashkenazi names — served as pointed shorthand for his allegation that enforcement operations focus on Sephardic communities while avoiding haredi Ashkenazi strongholds. The claim adds a volatile ethnic dimension to an already explosive confrontation between Israel's Torah world and state authorities.

"They arrest yeshiva students and truly humiliate them," Rabbi Yosef stated, describing the treatment of detained Torah scholars. He urged the young students before him to remain steadfast despite the pressure: "You need to be strong. 'No weapon formed against you shall prosper.' We hope with God's help this period will pass and this thing will end."

The Sephardi Chief Rabbi's intervention represents one of the most senior rabbinic voices to directly challenge the ethnic dynamics of draft enforcement. His remarks come as haredi leadership across the spectrum — including members of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah — rally behind detained yeshiva students and their families.

Rabbi Yosef concluded his address by emphasizing the spiritual significance of Torah study in Jewish tradition. "Maran felt it in his soul — they arrest a yeshiva student for the sin of learning Torah? What pain he had. We grew up with him in the house, we saw the love he had for bnei Torah."

The IDF Manpower Directorate and Military Police have not responded to the Chief Rabbi's allegations of ethnic profiling in draft enforcement operations.