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Watch: The non-Jew paid and bought the State’s leavened food – Kikar HaShabbat 18.4.19 + 13.4.17 [How can this be taken seriously??]
 

The Chief Rabbis received a down payment and sold the State’s leavened food
During the sale ceremony, the Chief Rabbis received from Jaber a down payment of 20,000 shekels, and after Passover they will assess the value of the State’s leavened food, after which Jaber will be able to complete the transaction (in Israel)
Kikar HaShabbat  |  13 Nisan 5779   13:27  18.04.19

(Photo: Shlomi Amsalem, GPO)

As every year, today (Thursday) the Chief Rabbis of Israel sold the leavened food of the State of Israel, including the state’s emergency warehouses, the Israel Police, the Prison Service, hospitals, government offices, and more, to the non-Jew Hussein Jaber – a resident of Abu Ghosh, so that the leavened food would be in his ownership.
The ceremony, held this year in the entrance hall of Beit Heikhal Shlomo, which in the past housed the offices of the Chief Rabbis of Israel, was conducted by the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Rabbi David Lau, together with Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen, who delivered the authorization document from the Finance Minister empowering the Chief Rabbis of Israel to sell the State of Israel’s leavened food to Hussein Jaber in accordance with the State Property Law.
During the sale ceremony, the Chief Rabbis received from Jaber a down payment of 20,000 shekels. According to the sale agreement signed by the parties, after Passover three appraisers will assess the value of the State’s leavened food, and then the buyer, Jaber, will be able to complete the transaction.
If he is unable to complete the transaction, the leavened food will be returned to the sellers’ possession. The sale agreement has halakhic and legal validity and allows Israeli citizens to fulfill the commandment of Passover in the best possible way without stumbling over concern about leavened food that remains in their ownership.
The first part of the ceremony opened with the signing and delivery of an authorization document from the Finance Minister, signed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and delivered by his deputy, Itzik Cohen, to the Chief Rabbis, granting them responsibility over the State’s leavened food and authorizing them to sell the leavened food of the State of Israel.
The wording of the authorization document that the Deputy Finance Minister gave to the rabbis: “By virtue of my authority… I authorize the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Rabbi David Lau, jointly or each separately, to act as agents for any action connected to the sale of leavened food to a non-Jew, as is customary and accepted in Israel.”
After that, as stated, the Chief Rabbis sold the leavened food on behalf of the state to Hussein Jaber.

(Photo: Shlomi Amsalem, GPO)

https://www.jdn.co.il/breakingnews/824891/  

The non-Jew from the sale of leavened food: “They offered me from Arab countries to sell them Israel’s leavened food”
JDN Staff13.04.201711:43
Hussein Ismail JaberSale of leavened food7 comments

If Hussein Ismail Jaber, the non-Jew who buys the leavened food of the State of Israel, had 500 billion shekels, all the leavened food would remain in his possession. He now explains why he agrees to be the non-Jewish buyer, and reveals an offer he received from Arab countries aimed at economically destroying the Jewish state.
“They called me from Arab countries and asked whether I was willing to sell them all of Israel’s leavened food, but of course I didn’t do it.” Hussein Ismail Jaber, a resident of Abu Ghosh, once a year becomes one of the most important people in Israel. After meeting with the Chief Rabbis of Israel and the Finance Minister and buying the leavened food from them, on the night after the seventh day of Passover everything depends on his free will.
If Jaber wants, the Jews get their leavened food back. If he does not want to, and if he manages to obtain the required sum, a total of 500 billion shekels, then all the leavened food of the State of Israel remains in his possession. Jaber insists: “It’s a contract in every respect,” he clarifies. “Not pretend. I really buy all the leavened food in the country; it’s all completely real.”

In an interview with the newspaper Maariv, he explains why he agrees to be the Passover non-Jew. “Listen, if it’s possible to help the country and society here, then why not? It’s also good for coexistence. It’s important in terms of cooperation to do things like this. Whatever can help, gladly.” At the same time, as a member of the Muslim faith, he says things do not always go smoothly. There is always someone who looks at it critically. “I sometimes get all kinds of comments from people who say, ‘Why are you doing this,’ and ‘Don’t help,’ but usually everything is fine,” he says.
As noted, because of his unusual role, Jaber has more than once received offers from Arab countries. These were not official government offers, but proposals from private individuals who perhaps saw in Jaber’s role a once-a-year opportunity to harm the State of Israel, even if the price would be very high. “Rich people from Dubai or Saudi Arabia told me, ‘We’ll buy everything from you,’” he says.
Jaber, for his part, makes clear that he was not tempted by this, nor does he intend to start now. After 21 years in the role, he understands that although the weight on his shoulders is not insignificant, and many eyes are on him during this week. “But even if I can’t pay for everything, it’s all mine on Passover if I pay the down payment,” he explains. “This week, for example, I gave a check for a 20,000-dollar down payment, and if I give that, then the deal is valid on Passover. On Monday I have to decide whether I want to continue holding it or not. If not, then the contract is canceled and everything is returned.”
Jaber himself is a scrupulously observant Muslim. Perhaps because of the mistake made by his predecessor in the role, it is important to him to make that clear. Perhaps also because this is “the biggest deal in the State of Israel,” as he said in an interview he gave some years ago to the Haredi radio station Kol Barama. Even though it is a contract in which it is clear to the parties that it is temporary and there is no intention of carrying it out fully, he said in that interview that he treats the role with complete seriousness, as though he were still debating whether to throw in the remaining billions and become the legal owner of huge numbers of loaves of bread. “Look, it’s mine,” Jaber said about the factories that pass into his hands for one week. “I make a tour, inspections, to see what I bought.”
And still, when asked about his ability to make free use of the products he bought with good money, he makes clear that he understands that this is not really so. “It’s under my responsibility, but it’s not really something I can give away,” he reassures. And if that was not enough, maybe the following fact will help: this many-year occupation has turned Jaber into an expert in the Jewish laws connected to leavened food and Passover. The occasion demands it. “I know the material,” Jaber boasts.