Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi, used his weekly Saturday night lesson to lash out at Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara amid the heated debate over ultra-Orthodox military draft exemptions and sanctions on Torah institutions.
Yosef said, "That woman is Jezebel, that wicked woman, she is giving those orders," referring to the attorney general and the legal steps being taken against yeshiva students in the draft dispute. He also described the government’s current policy as "decrees against Torah scholars."
He went further, arguing that U.S. President Donald Trump had turned against Israel because of what he called the harm being done to yeshiva students. "Trump turned on us because of the decrees they are making against Torah scholars and because they are arresting them," Yosef said.
His remarks come during a particularly tense period between Haredi leadership and the justice system, following the High Court of Justice ruling on drafting yeshiva students and the freezing of funds to religious institutions whose students do not enlist.