Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, called Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara 'garbage' and claimed that President Donald Trump changed his stance on Israel because of the arrests of Haredi yeshiva students evading military conscription, according to i24NEWS.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, escalated his rhetoric against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Saturday night, calling her 'garbage' (Hebrew: 'zevel') and claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump reversed his supportive stance toward Israel because of the recent arrest of Haredi draft dodgers. The remarks were reported by i24NEWS and circulated on social media. This latest salvo, first reported at 22:57 Jerusalem, follows two earlier statements by Yosef that night: an initial claim that Trump turned on Israel due to the persecution of yeshiva students (version 1, 22:57 Jerusalem), then an attack on the attorney general as a 'wicked woman' and 'Isabel' (version 1, also 22:57 Jerusalem). By the third version of the thread (22:57 Jerusalem), Yosef had attached the claim about a Trump shift specifically to the arrest of draft dodgers, tying his personal assault on the AG to the international dimension of the conscription dispute.
The thread shows Yosef's attack escalating across multiple statements Saturday night. The first report (version 1, 22:57 Jerusalem) was a desk-reviewed report quoting Yosef attributing a Trump policy shift to 'the persecution of yeshiva students.' Within the same hour, a second report (version 2, 22:57 Jerusalem) quoted Yosef calling the attorney general a 'wicked woman' and the biblical epithet 'Isabel,' while reiterating the Trump claim. A third report (version 3, 22:57 Jerusalem) added that Yosef named the attorney general 'garbage' and specified 'arrests of Haredi draft dodgers' as the trigger for Trump's alleged reversal. The source for all three reports remains i24NEWS, with no on-record confirmation from the attorney general's office or U.S. officials.
As The Zioneer reported on Saturday (23:26 Jerusalem), the context for these attacks is the ongoing political and legal battle over Haredi conscription, which has seen the government push legislation for exemptions while the attorney general enforces court rulings mandating the drafting of yeshiva students. Yosef's claim that Trump's stance shifted because of the crackdown on Torah scholars echoes unverified assertions by other Haredi leaders, but has not been corroborated by any White House or State Department statement.
What remains open: Yosef's claim that the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers caused a Trump policy reversal is entirely unsupported by evidence. No U.S. official has linked the arrests to any shift in policy, and the specific timing or mechanism for such a shift has not been provided. The claim that the attorney general directs the conscription crackdown rather than the prime minister also remains unverified.
4 developments
- DevelopingRabbi Yitzhak Yosef: AG Baharav-Miara, 'evil woman,' directs persecution of yeshiva students
- DevelopingShas leader Aryeh Deri slams Attorney General for blocking yeshiva student draft law
- StrongShas MKs, rabbi join Haredi protest rally outside military prison over draft-evader arrest
- DevelopingRally outside military prison for draft-dodging yeshiva graduate draws MKs, rabbi
Source and signal
- Internal intake