“This is a primitive racist, who incites and who hates Arabs. It’s an
outrage that someone who called not to rent apartments to Arab students
in Sefat could get a prize for his racism and be named the Chief Rabbi
of Israel. It would be a shameful stain on the state of Israel."
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Meretz MK Asks AG To Disqualify Racist From Becoming Chief Rabbi
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
MK Esawi Frij of the left wing Meretz party wrote a letter to Israel’s Attorney General earlier this week asking him to ban Sefat’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu from running for Sefardi chief rabbi of Israel, Arutz Sheva reported.
“This morning I encountered a campaign for ‘rabbi’ Shmuel Eliyahu to serve as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. As you certainly know, as the one who ordered a criminal investigation against him on suspicion of incitement to racism when Rabbi Eliyahu published racist statements and incitement against the Arab community in Israel – as Rabbi of Tzfat, Eliyahu ruled that [Jews] should not rent or sell apartments to Arab citizens. Eliyahu was quoted saying worse things, for which you ordered a criminal investigation.
“This is a primitive racist, who incites and who hates Arabs. It’s an outrage that someone who called not to rent apartments to Arab students in Sefat could get a prize for his racism and be named the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
“It would be a shameful stain on the state of Israel…,” Frij wrote.
Eliyahu is a Zionist Orthodox rabbi and the son of former terrorist Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who himself served as Israel’s Sefardi chief rabbi decades after being convicted of his crimes but while remaining unrepentant.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu led a campaign to bar Israeli Arabs from renting apartments or buying homes in Sefat. Many of the Israeli Arabs Eliyahu illegally sought to ban were medical students in the city.