"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish
from this earth," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas
party in Israel's government, said in a sermon late on Saturday, using
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' popular name.
"God should strike them and these Palestinians — evil
haters of Israel — with a plague," the 89-year-old rabbi said in his
weekly address, excerpts of which were broadcast on Israeli radio on Sunday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from
the comments and said Israel wanted to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians
that would ensure good neighborly relations.
"The comments do not reflect Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's view or the position of the government of Israel," Netanyahu's
office said in a statement.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said
Yosef's latest comments were tantamount to calling for "genocide against
Palestinians". The rabbi's remarks, he said, were "an insult to all
our efforts to advance the negotiations process."
Arriving at Netanyahu's office for a weekly Cabinet
meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai of Shas declined to comment when
asked by reporters about Yosef's sermon.
