Chief Rabbi David Lau Says Racist Jibe Was Joke
Image by getty images
Sign up for Forwarding the News, our essential morning briefing with trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis, curated by Senior Writer Benyamin Cohen.
Newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau dismissed on Thursday criticism of a racially-loaded comment he made earlier this week, calling it ‘a joke that lost control.’
During a meeting with ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students on Tuesday, in an attempt to dissuade them from watching basketball on television, Lau asked “why do you care whether these Kushim [a derogatory term used in Hebrew for black people] who are paid in Tel Aviv beat the kushim who are paid in Greece?” The recording was broadcast by Hakol Haharedi, a Haredi news service.
In an interview on Israel Radio Thursday, Lau addressed the anger surrounding his remark for the first time, saying Israelis “excel at taking a humorous remark and turning it into a headline.”
He added that “the one and only headline is – you are yeshiva students so study the Torah.”
For more go to Haaretz
