Right-Wing Israeli Lawmaker Calls Reform Judaism ‘Fake’

Bezalel Smotrich Image by haaretz

A right-wing Israeli lawmaker known for his controversial statements called Reform Judaism a “fake religion.”

Jewish Home party member Bezalel Smotrich, who created a stir in April for saying Jewish women should not have to share hospital rooms with Arab women, made his remarks about the Reform movement on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.

The latest remark came days after the Knesset passed a law permitting local religious authorities to bar non-Orthodox conversion ceremonies from their public mikvahs.

Smotrich told a meeting of his party’s youth activists that he was “not willing to recognize Reform conversions and their fake religion.”

He also has made numerous anti-LGBT remarks, last year referring to the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade as an “abomination parade” just days after a 16-year-old participant was murdered there by a haredi Orthodox assailant.

Smotrich in May called on the Israeli government to perpetrate “revenge” against Palestinians, saying it would prevent individual Jews from perpetrating anti-Palestinian acts of violence.

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