Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar called on American Jews this week to explain to the Obama administration the religious obligation of every Jew to live in every part of the Land of Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post. The newspaper obtained a letter addressed to American rabbinical organizations and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in which Amar wrote that "the Torah commands the Jewish people to live in Israel. And we hear that the US is putting pressure on the Israeli government to prevent Jews from living or building their homes in large parts of the Land of Israel."
Amar wrote that he was addressing the issue solely from a religious point of view, while noting the lack of restrictions based on ethnic background in other parts of the world. The idea to write the letter to American Jews was inspired by American-born Rabbi Sholom Gold, who spoke on Shabbat before Amar and other rabbis of how it was unjust to turn areas of the Land of Israel Judenrein - a Nazi term for "cleansed of Jews". It was Rabbi Amar's first public declaration on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.