“Recognizing the largely secular founders of the modern state of Israel, he pointed out “what was here 80 years ago. They (the pioneers of the modern state) were the emissaries of the Holy One blessed be He, in their merit we sit to study Torah. We have to be grateful to the Holy One blessed be He.”
I find it very hard to believe that this statement was referring to the fervent secularists like Herzl and Ben Yehudah. I suspect the quote is taken out of context and has been applied in this way by media outlets and eventually trickled its way onto the YWN forums like a game of telephone. Can anyone confirm/deny that Rav Yosef (or any sane Rabbi) would actually call atheist extremists “the emissaries of HKBH?”