PM sells Israel’s leavened bread

Ahead of the Passover holiday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sold Israel’s leavened goods, known in Hebrew as hametz, to an Abu Ghosh resident Thursday.

Netanyahu, who is acting as finance minister until his cabinet forms, sold the hametz for NIS 20,000 ($5,000) to Hussein Jabar in an official ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.

The sale was overseen by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.

For the past 15 years, Jabar, a Muslim Arab-Israeli has symbolically purchased all of the state’s leavened food as part of an agreement with Israel’s chief rabbis. Hussein temporarily “purchases” leavened food from state-owned companies, the prison service and Israel’s national emergency supply for the duration of Passover.

The state buys the food back from Jabar after the week-long holiday.

In a statement, the prime minister said he “is always moved” by the Passover holiday.

“Tomorrow the entire Jewish people will sit and tell our sons and daughters, as we were commanded to do for thousands of years, and will remember that in every generation, they [nations] rise up against us to destroy us,” Netanyahu said in the statement.

Jaber Issa, head of the Abu Ghosh municipality, wished a happy Passover to the Jews in Israel and abroad.

“We trust the prime minister and want to wish him luck, both in forming the next government, and in leading the State of Israel and people of Israel to peace, economic prosperity, and success in every area,” Issa said.

Marissa Newman contributed to this report.