Israeli leader rebukes deputy over her comment about US Jews

JERUSALEM – Israel’s prime minister has condemned a deputy for what he deemed to be “offensive remarks” about American Jews.

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Diaspora Jews are “an inseparable part of our people” and that there was no place for Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely’s attacks on them. He says her remarks don’t reflect Israeli positions.

The remarks came in an interview with i24news TV on the growing rift between Israel and the far more liberal American-Jewish community. Hotovely said the rift was partly because American Jews do not have to send their children to the military.

She said: “Most of them are having quite convenient lives. They don’t feel how it feels to be attacked by rockets.”

Hotovely says she was merely highlighting the complexity of Israeli life.