Newsletters
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef—the former Sephardic chief rabbi and current spiritual leader of Shas—declared Benjamin Netanyahu “an atheist” in a sharp rebuke, questioning the trustworthiness of the government to deliver on promises made to the ultra-Orthodox community.
Delivering remarks during a weekly sermon, Yosef cautioned Haredi leaders, urging them not to place faith in Netanyahu’s assurances. Yosef refers to pending legislation to reinstate exemptions from military conscription for yeshiva students.
“You believe him? He’s an atheist. You trust someone like that?” he told his congregation.
Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students have enjoyed a deferment from compulsory military service under the “Torato Umanuto” arrangement since Israel's founding.
Allowing yeshiva students to skip military service was a policy initially meant to apply to a small group but which expanded over the decades to include tens of thousands, triggering widespread resentment among the broader public.
Efforts to reform or repeal this status quo have repeatedly led to protests, Knesset clashes, and legal challenges.
At least 20 Palestinians were killed in a new wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said.
A medical source at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City told Anadolu that seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli drone strike.
Witnesses said the strike targeted a group of civilians gathered in the courtyard of the hospital in the city.
Another medical source from the Gaza Health Ministry reported that a young Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
On Aug. 11, Israeli forces launched a large-scale assault on the Zeitoun neighborhood, including house demolitions using booby-trapped robots, artillery fire, indiscriminate shooting, and forced displacement, according to witnesses.
Israel has killed nearly 61,900 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on the enclave.
1 min read
1 min read
