Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely publicly apologizes if statements she made suggesting US Jews had it easy caused offense to American Jewry.
In an interview with Hadashot news (formerly Channel 2) she says that she felt a strong, family connection to Jews in the Diaspora, and like all families there are sometimes disagreements and arguments. But, she said her words came from her love for the Jewish communities who are outside Israel.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely gives a press conference on November 3, 2015, in the Lipski plastic factory at the Barkan Industrial Park near the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank, on the European Union decision to label goods made in Jewish settlements. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
“To all those Americans who are lone soldiers, or those who have grandparents who fought in World War II, I salute you all. That was not my intent,” she says. “When I was 18 I spent a year in Atlanta as part of my national service in the Jewish community. For the past 20 years the topic of the Jewish community in the US has concerned me and I truly feel that we are part of a family.”
However, she did not offer a full apology for the comments or retract her fundamental message.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
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