Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, David Yosef, made unusually direct political remarks during a visit last week to the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem. The visit commemorated the 21st anniversary of the burning of synagogues in Gush Katif, a bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza, by Palestinian crowds immediately after Israel's withdrawal from the area on August 15, 2005.
"Just because of the desecration of the synagogues, G-d will destroy all of Gaza and we will return there," Rabbi Yosef stated during the visit.
The chief rabbi also challenged Palestinian national claims, saying "The Palestinian people are not a people and never were a people, and they have no rights here. The rights are ours." He characterized Israel's approach as one of seeking peace while receiving violence in return, describing the situation as "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. We gave them, we gave them, and it exploded in our faces."
Rabbi Yosef emphasized that Jews are not "forcing the end" of days but waiting patiently for redemption. He said Israel extended its hand in peace but received the opposite, describing a culture he characterized as built on violence alongside Iran.
The chief rabbi was accompanied by Rabbi Lior Cohen, son-in-law of the late Rabbi Meir Mazuz, and Zvi Ammar, president of the France-Israel Relations Organization. Students from a yeshiva in Zichron Yaakov also attended and celebrated completing Talmudic tractates.
In the museum's guest book, Rabbi Yosef wrote: "I visited today at the museum commemorating the holy communities of Gush Katif that were destroyed, to our great sorrow. The very memory and hope to return and rebuild the holy communities there and everywhere in the Land of Israel will merit that in our days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely, and we will merit the building of all the Land of Israel with the coming of the righteous redeemer soon, amen."
He signed as "David Yosef, son of our master Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of blessed memory, who stood by the settlers with all his strength and always felt their pain."
During the visit, museum officials presented Rabbi Yosef with copies of the book "Gaza Forever." The book was originally published in installments on the Kikar Hashabat website before being printed in its third edition.
