Right-Wing Israeli Lawmaker Calls Reform Judaism ‘Fake’
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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.