Israeli chief rabbi calls black people monkeys in racially charged rant during sermon

Office of the religious official defends comments, says was citing a passage from the Talmud - the book of Jewish law

One of Israel’s chief rabbis called black people 'monkeys' during his weekly sermon, The Independent reported.

During his weekly sermon, the rabbi used a derogatory Hebrew term for a black person, before going on to call a black person a 'monkey,' according to footage published by the Ynet news site.

His office said he was citing a passage from the Talmud - the book of Jewish law.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s comments were denounced as 'racially charged' and 'utterly unacceptable' by the Anti-Defamation League, a New York City-based organisation devoted to battling anti-Semitism and racism.



Yousef has previously courted controversy for suggesting secular women behave like animals because they dress immodestly.

In March 2016, Yosef was forced to retract a comment that non-Jews should not live in Israel, calling it 'theoretical', The Times of Israel reported.

He said non-Jews could live in Israel only if they observe the seven Noahide Laws, which are prohibitions against idolatry, blaspheming God, murder, forbidden sexual relations, stealing, and eating limbs off a live animal, and which prescribe the establishment of a legal system.

Non-Jews, Yosef said, are in Israel only to serve Jews, the Israeli newspaper claims.

Israel has two chief rabbis. Yosef represents those with origins in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and the Middle East, and David Lau represents Ashkenazic Jews, with origins in European lands of the Roman Empire.



Earlier, Israeli forces shot dead a Hamas member suspected of killing a rabbi as two deadly attacks against Israeli settlers in the month of February increased tensions in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian suspect in the murder of the rabbi was shot dead in a pre-dawn raid hours after another Israeli was killed in a stabbing in the West Bank.

Several hundred mourners attended the funeral for Itamar Ben Gal, the 29-year-old man killed a day earlier who was also a rabbi.

There was no indication of a direct link between the two attacks, with violence common in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli settlers or security forces.

Israeli settlements in occupied territory are seen as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.



Israel faced sharp criticism from the administration of former US president Barack Obama over settlement construction, but that has not been the case with Trump’s White House.

Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on December 6 was also hailed by Israelis, while deeply angering the Palestinians who see the city as their capital as well.

Twenty-one Palestinians have been killed since Trump’s announcement, most in clashes with Israeli forces. Two Israelis have been killed in that timeframe.

This article originally appeared on The Independent