Chief rabbi condemns ‘delinquent’ Haredi rioters for ‘desecrating God’s name’

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef condemns the ultra-Orthodox rioters who have been violently resisting police efforts to enforce lockdown restrictions, calling them “young delinquents” and “rioters” who are “desecrating God’s name” and calling on the Haredi community to renounce them.

Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends the traditional selling of the the hametz (food containing leavening) of the state of Israel to a non-Jew before the upcoming Passover holiday, on March 29, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“There is no justification for violent acts and that should stop immediately,” the Sephardi chief rabbi says, adding that the actions “aren’t in the name of the Torah.”

He calls on municipal and welfare authorities to step in and take care of the rioters, “who are after all part of us, and of course are a minority that doesn’t represent us. This minority is tarnishing the name of the entire Haredi public, whose vast majority is very far from such behavior.”

Yosef calls on security forces to show restraint, “because we are brothers.”