An Israeli rabbi close to (Ben Gvir): “The deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria are divine justice” that made the world better

Shmuel Eliyahu, one of Israel’s chief rabbis and a prominent figure in the Israeli religious movement, stated that the deadly earthquake that struck both Turkey and Syria was “divine justice” and said that the disaster “cleansed the world and made it better.”

Eliyahu, who has close ties to the national security minister of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben Gvir, conveyed the biblical story of the Exodus in his article published in the weekly newsletter of the religious conservative right. He likened the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria to the sinking of Egyptian forces in the Red Sea.

Regarding the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which killed at least 25,000 people in Turkey and Syria, Eliyahu said: “God judges all the nations around us that want to invade our lands several times and throw us into the sea.”

Rabbi Eliyahu said, “This is about Syria that invaded Israel three times.” He added, “We do not know what account will be taken with Turkey, which has distorted us in every field. But if God reveals to us and says that He will judge all our enemies, then we just have to wait. Everything that happens is to clean and improve the world.”