Shas Rabbi Condemns Extremist Attack on IDF Chief Zamir

The elder rabbi concluded his statement with a pointed reference to Jewish values: “Deracheha darchei noam v’chol netivoteha shalom — Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” He signed the letter emphasizing it was written “for the honor of Torah and its students, and with great appreciation for the soldiers.”

The rebuke from Rabbi Maya, one of the most senior and respected figures in the Sephardic haredi world, represents a significant internal fracture within the religious community over the tone and tactics of the ongoing draft resistance campaign. The statement signals that even among those opposed to haredi conscription, there are clear red lines regarding acceptable discourse toward Israel’s military leadership.

Shas Movement Issues Official Disavowal

The Shas political movement followed Rabbi Maya’s intervention with its own formal statement distancing the party from Yazdi’s remarks. The movement declared that the extremist statements “do not reflect the position of our rabbis, the Council of Torah Sages” and are “contrary to the path of the Shas movement, which our master Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of blessed memory taught us.”

Shas emphasized that its official position aligns with the speech delivered at the rally by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who had warned protesters hours before the event not to block Highway 4 or engage in disruptive tactics, instructing the community to conduct the gathering strictly as a prayer assembly.