Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef is known for his outspoken comments. (AP)

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Jordanian businessman Tawfik Azab has posted a million dinar prize for anyone who assassinates Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party. The prize, reported in the Jordanian newspaper Al Dustur, was one of many severe reactions in the Arab world, and in Israel as well, to Rabbi Yosef's comment during a sermon last week that the "Arabs should be destroyed."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa yesterday accused Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of being "racist," saying recent remarks made by Yosef calling for the annihilation of Arabs and the use of missiles against them were ridiculous and represented a call for "mass killing."

The Rabat-based Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural

"May the Holy Name visit retribution on the Arabs' heads" - Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

Organization (ISESCO) termed Yosef's statements as a criminal, racist and despicable act and an invitation for more aggression against the Palestinian and the Arab Muslim nation. "These racist declarations reflect the truth about the aggressive positions taken by the extremist Jews in Israel against all Arabs and Muslims," the organization declared in a statement released to the press.

Palestinian Information Minister Yassir Abed Rabbo, said: "This is the third time that the rabbi has espoused openly racist views and neither his party nor his government in which it serves has bothered to apologize."

Yosef's reputation for outspoken remarks
The reactions came after the ynet website published details of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's last sermon. Yosef has a reputation for outspoken remarks. Other religious leaders in the region hurried to dispel the tensions caused by the Shas leader's remarks.

In his weekly sermon prior to the start of Passover, Yosef said, "It is forbidden to be merciful to [the Arabs], you must give them missiles, with relish - annihilate them. Evil ones, damnable ones. May the Holy Name visit retribution on the Arabs' heads, and cause their seed to be lost, and annihilate them, and cause them to be vanquished and cause them to be cast from the world," Yosef said.

Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri said the people who attended the sermon understood clearly that Yosef was referring to terrorists and not to Arabs in general. Shas leader Eli Yishai said Yosef's comments were along the same line as calls by members of the government, including him, to target terrorists.

Rabbi Yosef's comments came under attack in Israel as well. Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit condemned the Shas leader's tirade. "A person of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's stature must refrain from acrid remarks such as these ... I suggest that we not learn from the ways of the Palestinians and speak in verbal blows like these," Sheetrit told Israel Radio.

Labor Minister Salah Tarif, a Druze Arab, said it was "truly a pity that such things are said at such a difficult time in relations between the nation and Arabs both within the country and without. These remarks add nothing but hatred, and it's a shame they were uttered by someone as great in Torah learning as Rabbi Ovadia."

Meretz Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On said Yosef's ongoing remarks pose a threat to people's lives and are all the more grave since they come from a public figure with a following. "Ovadia can talk nonsense as much as he wants, but not when he calls for attacks on people," she said.

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