Ex-Meretz chief sparks outcry with Ben Gvir Nazi tweet

Zahava Galon, the former head of the left-wing Meretz party, sparks an outcry after posting a picture of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaking at a press conference with his arm raised, as if in a Nazi salute.

Galon captioned the photo “Heil Kahane,” a reference to Ben Gvir’s mentor, Rabbi Meir Kahane, a one-time member of Knesset and founder of the racist Kach party, who was assassinated at a New York City hotel in November 1990 by an Egyptian-American jihadist.

Ben Gvir, the far-right head of the Otzma Yehudit party, has since said that he no longer follows Kahane’s policies.

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar from the Likud party condemned the post, calling it “pure incitement and blatant racism.”

בת להורים ניצולי שואה, מוזילה ודוקרת את ששת מיליוני הקדושים. זהבה, מה אמא ואבא היו אומרים על זה? pic.twitter.com/W1q0QwV3sw

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 25, 2023

Ben Gvir retweeted the Galon’s post with the caption: “The daughter of Holocaust survivors cheapens and stabs at their memory. Zahava what would your mother and father say?”

Galon later deleted the tweet, saying she was “still waiting for racism to be deleted from the Knesset.”