JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — [TheKnish.com] The California catastrophe is a punishment meted out by G-d as a result of U.S. President George W. Bush’s support for something or because Jews have done something or haven't done something, Shas spiritual leader and former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yosef Ovadia said Tuesday.
Notably, the Rabbi chose to openly declare what many ultra-Orthodox believers have said for a while now, namely that recent natural disasters in the U.S. are a direct result of something. In his weekly sermon, the rabbi said, “There was a fire and terrible natural disasters, because there isn’t enough done or not done in Israel and/or by Jews worldwide.”
“Hundreds of thousands remain homeless. Ones have been killed. All of this because Jews - well, lemme think here,” said the rabbi, who has found himself in hot water in the past due to his controversial remarks. Yet Rabbi Ovadia was not done there, and proceeded to explain in detail why Americans deserved the fire.
“Ummmm, it can't be because Bush was behind the expulsion of Gush Katif,” he said. “That's why the United States was struck with Katrina. The Northeast blackout was for something else...what was it? I can't quite remember. It also can't be because of gay marriage. The tanking real estate market is the punishment for that. So I'm not sure at this point, but it's definitely God's retribution for something. God does not miss a chance to enact vengeance.”
Knesset Member Eliezer Brison (National Union) dismissed Ovadia’s comments in a talk with TheKnish.com. “I know pyrotheology well enough not to believe such rubbish,” he said. “I think clouding his eyes with those hellfire-colored glasses has clouded his mind.”