Shmuel Eliyahu

Following an address in December 2017 in which U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced plans to relocate the U.S. embassy there from its current location in Tel Aviv, Eliyahu organized a joint letter signed by 250 Israeli Orthodox rabbis praising Trump's historic proclamation, stating, "You will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people."

In July 2013, Eliyahu ran for the position of Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein requested that Eliyahu abandon his candidacy, noting that he had made a number of offensive statements against Arabs. Member of Knesset Issawi Frej submitted an emergency petition to the High Court asking that Eliyahu be disqualified, since "election of a racist like Eliyahu to the position would be the start of the destruction of values in the State of Israel". The High Court rejected the petition based on technicalities. In December 2013, Eliyahu petitioned the High Court against the Attorney General for using confidential information that was gathered as part of the failed criminal investigation that Weinstein sent to the election committee in his attempt to prevent Eliyahu from running.

Eliyahu has urged Jewish residents of Safed not to rent housing to Arabs, leading to calls for his suspension, and for his prosecution on grounds of racial incitement. In July 2012, Israel's Ministry of Justice closed the investigation into allegations of incitement, on the grounds of lack of evidence that the statements could be attributed to Eliyahu.

In March 2008, Eliyahu called for "state-sanctioned revenge" against Arabs. According to Haaretz, Eliyahu wrote an article for the newsletter Eretz Yisrael Shelanu ("Our Land of Israel"), wherein he proposed "hanging the children of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Mercaz Harav yeshiva from a tree".

In May 2007, Eliyahu advocated "carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life". He further stated, "If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill 1,000. If they do not stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

Shmuel Eliyahu (Hebrew: שמואל אליהו ‎; born 29 November 1956 / AM 25 Kislev 5717) is the Israeli Orthodox Chief Rabbi of Safed and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council.