Sephardic Rabbis Protest

From Arutz Sheva:

(IsraelNN.com) Shas Party Chairman Eli Yishai said Tuesday that Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef instructed him to tell all Shas Party Knesset members to go to Gush Katif during the implementation of the Disengagement.

According to Yishai, the rabbi said, "We are brothers in pain and it is obligatory to care for the residents and do everything they ask."

Rabbi Yosef is former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel and is one of the most influential rabbis alive.

Also from Arutz Sheva:

The son of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Yossi Eliyahu, informed an Arutz-7 correspondent of the following directives from his father on Tuesday:

The public should increase Torah study "for the merit of those under siege in Gush Katif."

Recite T'hillim (Psalms) concentrating on Chapters 91 and 20, repeating them many times over.

People who have the strength to fast, should accept upon themselves at Mincha time (during the daily afternoon prayer, before sundown) that they will fast tomorrow (Wednesday) from the break of dawn until nightfall.
Important: Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu said that those inside Gush Katif (and those on their way there – Rabbi Yossi Eliyahu) should not participate in this fast.

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (pictured above), a former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of the State of Israel, is a leading halachic (Jewish legal) and Kabbalistic scholar many of whose students and followers reside in the Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha).

Previously, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu communicated via another son, Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the following announcement:

"From the straits, I call to you, G-d.
It is a difficult time for Jacob, and from it we will be saved.
In order to annul the decree which is hovering over the Jewish People, one should make efforts to recite Tikun Hatzot and Pitum Hak'toret in groups. If it is difficult to recite with a group, then it should be recited alone. Through the strength of unity and prayer, we will be redeemed.
The Lord should build the Building of Ariel [ed: The Temple], and gather our brothers, the House of Israel, to our Holy Land, and we will settle it in its complete borders as promised by G-d to our holy fathers, and He should expel the nations of the world from our Land, now, speedily, and soon. Amen.
The time for reciting Tikun Hatzot in Israel is from 12:44 AM.