‘Please remove the enlightened Reform man. The Jews here want to continue’: Likud MK disparagingly kicks Reform rabbi out of Knesset hearing

Galit Distel Atbaryan, then minister of public diplomacy speaks during a rally in support of the government's  judicial overhaul outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on September 7, 2023. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Galit Distel Atbaryan, then minister of public diplomacy speaks during a rally in support of the government's judicial overhaul outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on September 7, 2023. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan kicks out Labor MK Gilad Kariv, who is also a Reform rabbi, from her parliamentary subcommittee session earlier today.

“Please remove the enlightened Reform man. The Jews here want to continue,” she declares.

Responding to the incident, Kariv says in a statement, “The onslaught of hatred and loss of temper testifies like a thousand witnesses to the Jewish worldview that stands behind her and her partners’ efforts – a fanatical, misogynistic, separatist and vigilante Judaism. We will not allow this kind of Judaism to settle in our children’s schools.”

The Knesset panel had been discussing Education Minister Yoav Kisch’s plan to boost Bible study in secular schools, sparking pushback from opposition lawmakers who argue that the policy amounts to religious coercion.

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