Then Israeli Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef read the dedication of a Jewish religious book given to Netanyahu by Yosef during a meeting in this June 13, 1996 file photo. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, an Iraqi-born sage who turned an Israeli underclass of Sephardic Jews of Middle Eastern heritage into a powerful political force, died on Monday at the age of 93, plunging masses of followers into mourning.
Dubbed Israel's Ayatollah by critics who condemned many of his pronouncements as racist - he likened Palestinians to snakes and said God put gentiles on earth only to serve Jews - Yosef was revered by many traditional Sephardic Jews as their supreme religious leader.
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