Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not defending a controversial rabbi against calls for his resignation after he said female soldiers were not Jews and military service had driven them “crazy.”
During the weekly cabinet meeting, Bennett reportedly told Netanyahu that “at the moment of truth you abandoned religious Zionism and forgot to care for one of its most glorious institutions whose contribution is a contribution to all of the State of Israel,” according to Hebrew-media reports.
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein teaching a lesson in 2013. (Screen capture: YouTube)
The comments come after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday threatened to sever the official recognition of the religious pre-army academy and hesder yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Eli if its head Rabbi Yigal Levinstein did not resign.
Levinstein was condemned by politicians across the political spectrum last week after Channel 2 aired footage of a speech in which he made disparaging remarks about female soldiers.
Following the broadcast of Levinstein’s comments, Netanyahu issued a rebuke in which he said “we are proud of [female IDF service], and we will further it,” although he did not mention the rabbi by name in his remarks.
— Alexander Fulbright
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
