Israeli Amb. to US condemns Minister Mai Golan's 'disgusting' comments against reform Judaism
"You're marrying dogs in your delusional synagogues," Israeli Social Equality Minister Mai Golan shouted at Reform Rabbi Gilad Kariv at the Israeli Knesset
Israel’s ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter has issued an extraordinary and blistering condemnation of a sitting Israeli cabinet minister, calling her verbal assault on a Reform rabbi and lawmaker "disgusting and reprehensible."
The public rift erupted after Social Equality Minister Mai Golan (Likud) launched a fiery tirade from the Knesset podium against opposition Member of Knesset (MK) Gilad Kariv, a prominent Reform rabbi.
Praising a Likud activist and convicted felon, Golan declared that Kariv "won't reach his level even in another two hundred reincarnations," before aiming her attacks directly at Kariv's religious practices.
"You're marrying dogs in your delusional synagogues," Golan shouted, additionally mocking Kariv's alignment with the "Women of the Wall"—a feminist group advocating for women's rights to pray freely and read from the Torah at Jerusalem's Western Wall.
The response from Israel’s top diplomat in Washington was swift and uncommonly fierce. In a public statement, the Israeli Ambassador sharply rebuked Golan, emphasizing his own background as an Orthodox Jew while defending the legitimacy of the broader Jewish diaspora.
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"I condemn in the strongest terms Minister Mai Golan’s verbal attack on MK Gilad Kariv and on Reform Judaism in general," the Ambassador stated. "As an Orthodox Jew and as Israel’s representative to the United States I find her words disgusting and reprehensible, worthy of excoriation and rebuke."
The ambassador went on to warn against the rising tide of divisive rhetoric within Israeli political discourse: "Theological, political, and ideological differences are fine, even necessary for a healthy people. But there is a line that cannot be crossed, it is a line that divides debate from hate and separates altruism from populism. Too many are crossing the line. Mai Golan’s statement is one of them."
"I will visit with leaders of the Reform movement soon, in person, to apologize on Israel’s behalf," the Ambassador concluded.