Bill De Blasio Slammed Over Condolence Message for ‘Racist’ Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Image by getty images
New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio was dragged into a tabloid fight over the legacy of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef after the liberal Democrat expressed his sympathies for the death of the Israeli Sephardic leader.
The New York Post slammed de Blasio for the boilerplate condolence message, noting it ignored Yosef’s history of attacks on blacks, Arabs and others.
De Blasio released a statement via Twitter on Monday:
Millions of people around the world lost a leader today in Rabbi Chacham Ovadia Yosef. His wisdom, charity and sensitivity were legendary.
ampmdash; Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) October 7, 2013
De Blasio received a handful of replies on Twitter accusing Yosef of being racist, homophobic and anti-Arab.
De Blasio’s spokesman, Wiley Norvell, later defended the message in a statement to the Jewish Week
“Bill, like the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, was offering his condolences, not an endorsement of his views” Norvell said.
Many publications have noted Yosef’s history of controversial and inflammatory rhetoric, including the Forward. At one point even Yosef drew a condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League. ADL executive director Abraham H. Foxman and Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota both released statements that carefully acknowledged this discrepancy in Yosef’s legacy.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Explainer: What the Israeli occupation of Gaza would mean for Israelis and Palestinians
-
Fast Forward These Jewish arts organizations have been defunded by the Trump administration
-
Fast Forward Dave Portnoy rescinds Auschwitz invitation for student involved in ‘F— the Jews’ incident at his bar
-
Fast Forward Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian writer targeted by far-right pro-Israel activists, wins Pulitzer for commentary
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Explainer: What the Israeli occupation of Gaza would mean for Israelis and Palestinians
-
Yiddish אויסשטעלונג אין אונגערן — רמזים פֿון הילצערנער שיל פֿון 18טן יאָרהונדערטExhibit in Hungary displays remnants of 18th century wooden synagogue
אינעם 18טן יאָרהונדערט איז די קהילה אין נאַזנאַ געווען די צווייט גרעסטע אין גאַנץ טראַנסילוואַניע.
-
News Is the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism the new Red Scare?
-
Opinion Trump’s cuts are a war on Jewish literature, thought and history itself
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.