Israel – The Supreme Court is “warped” and God will punish it for its rulings, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in response to its decision to sentence former minister Shlomo Benizri to four years in prison for taking bribes.
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Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party to which Benizri belongs, made the remarks on a tape that will be played tonight at a rally in support of Benizri, who will soon start serving his sentence. The full tape was posted Tuesday night on the Web site “Haredim.”
“House of Israel, harken!” Ovadia said on the tape. “We are deeply pained by the unjust judgment that was handed down to our friend, a man of great activity who has worked all his life to disseminate Torah and to exalt it, whose entire mind is Torah, whose entire mind is fear of heaven, whose entire mind is loving-kindness toward the people of Israel – and they have judged him as they judged him. Woe to us that we have a warped court like this, so warped. They have neither wisdom nor judgment; they believe in nothing,” he said.
“Rather, they are heretics. How can the Holy One, blessed be He, be found in their company? What business does a priest [who under Jewish law must not come into contact with the dead] have in a cemetery?”
Benizri was convicted of accepting bribes from Moshe Sela.
Does not parsha Shoftim says: Don’t take bribes because bribery blinds the eyes of the even wise people?
The only “warped” judgements here are by Rabbi Yosef and his political cronies who claim that the court should have exonerated Benizri simply because he was an otherwise ehrleche yid with yiras shamayim, without regard to the substantial evidence affirmed by both a lower court and the supreme court that he had committed bribery.
I would have expected such an outcome in some of the Islamic theocracies where criminals are let go simply because they have strong ties to the Mullahs or religious establishment. Fortunately, this is EY where the rule of law still governs. For those with short memories, these are the same people who also proclaimed the innocence of Deri who I believe is still in jail for his criminal activity.
The posuk only only applies to people you don’t know or who are already blind or haven’t paid you enough to say nice things about them when they are convicted. Vd”l
How do you expect Rav Yosef’s “Chassidim”, e.g., Dwek, to respect the law when the leaders of Shas do otherwise? If someone can escape prison by screaming “I only did it for Torah” it is time to rethink our religion and maybe put the Torah aside and just follow Ethical Judaism. Or, better still, maybe we throw out our Rabbinic leaders and give alll the power to the people. We can’t do any worse.
I don’t know the details of the Benizri case, but as a general rule in Israel, bribery is part of everyday life there. All politicians are involved in it one way or another. However, the decision to prosecute a particular person usually involves politics and personal grudges.
This issue here WAS NOT the conviction, but rather the Supreme Courts arbitrary decision to increase Benizri’s punishment from 18 mos. to 4 years in prison.
The original sentence of 18 mos. was handed down by the district court. Benizri exercised his right to appeal the conviction. Shockingly, not only was the appeal denied, but the SENTENCE WAS INCREASED 300%.
This can never happen in an American court, and will chill Israeli defendants’ ability to appeal. It is also fairly clear that politics were involved here – if not, the Supreme Court merely had to affirm the district court’s decision. Instead, they acted IN AN EXCEPTIONAL and ARBITRARY manner (capricious, also).
THIS is whey R. Yosef is so upset.
Chacham Yosef is acknowledged as a Gadol Hador. Please refrain from disparaging comments. Seriously, not all that one thinks must one say or write. I know its difficult but “אפילו על ימין שהוא שמאל ושמאל שהוא ימיןThank you!
1- Please do not bring the Torah into this. The Torah does not prescribe four years of jail time for someone who accepts bribes – IF he did indeed accept them.
2- If you want to bring the Torah into this, the people involved in Benizri’s conviction are not allowed to hold the positions of power that they hold, for so many reasons.
3- Oy Vavoy to those who dare speak out against our Chachamim. Have a look at the Mishna in Pirkei Avot, Perek 2 Mishna 10. Then again, maybe those are just the words of Tanaim and “their cronies.”
I would be very carefull with saying some of the negative things about Chacham Ovadia, Shlita. While I (and many others) truly believe anything the Chacham says is the absolute truth, even if you disagree, why do you want it on your cheshbon that you disparaged berabim a true gadol hador and eved Hashem. His one minute of existance is sadly more meaningfull and valuable than some of our entire lives.
Choshen mishpat, siman 360 (shas) is about hilchos GEZAILAH, same as the political party of same name (shas)…….shame on them all!