Rabbi Baruch Gazahi, who was slated to become a Shas MK when the Norwegian law would take effect, announced Tuesday evening that he was resigning from the party's Knesset list after remarks he made about women on camera stirred up political controversy.
The "Norwegian law," based on the government model of the Scandinavian country with the same name, allows MKs named for ministerial positions to resign from Knesset and enable the next candidate on their party's list to be named an MK. The law further states that ministers or deputy ministers who resign their positions may be reinstated as MKs.
Evening news broadcasts on Tuesday showed a video of Gazahi speaking to a room of young men and offering some untraditional – and disturbing – interpretations of religious texts.
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"Kabbalist books say that a woman who exposes her upper body is generally reincarnated as a cow, because her 'udders' were exposed. So a woman has to be modest," he said.
Gazahi also said that "one of the reasons why women suffer from breast cancer is that everyone's eyes go there – so she gets the Evil Eye. That's one of the reasons why pregnant women, heaven forbid it should happen to any of us, miscarry. Why? She gets pregnant and posts a picture of her belly. Is that normal?"
Gazahi also made blatantly racist comments about Arabs, asking the audience, "Have you ever seen a good-looking Arab? There's no such thing."
"Rabbi Gazahi informed Shas leader Arye Deri this evening that he has decided to resign and not serve as an MK," the Shas party announced.
Gazahi, 39, was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah at the age of two. He embraced religion as a student, and his family followed in his footsteps and began observing a religious lifestyle. In 2008 he established the "spiritual center" Od Yosef Chai in Beersheba.
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