Israel’s new Education Minister, Rafael “Rafi” Peretz, told the Israeli cabinet last week that intermarriage between American Jews and non-Jews is “like a second Holocaust,” reports Axios.
Peretz is a former chief rabbi of the Israeli army and the leader of a bloc of right-wing political parties formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including the Jewish supremacist “Jewish Power” party.
Peretz’s remarks at a July 1 cabinet meeting “represent the growing rift between the Orthodox parts of Israeli society and politics, and the majority of U.S. Jews who are much more liberal, and most of whom identify with the Reform or Conservative denominations,” Axios says, citing “three people who were in the room.”
That cabinet meeting centered on a report on “trends in Jewish communities around the world, in particular in North America” by Dennis Ross, a former official in the Obama, Clinton and G.H.W. Bush administrations.
“During Ross’ briefing, the ministers discussed the growing rate of marriages between Jews and non-Jews in America,” Axios says.
“Peretz said the assimilation of Jews around the world and mostly in the U.S. was ‘like a second Holocaust,’ and added that due to intermarriages in the last 70 years the Jewish people ‘lost 6 million people,’” Axios says, adding that Peretz’s spokesman confirmed this account.
At least one other cabinet member disagreed, but Netanyahu said he is concerned by “demographic trends” in America, adding that “growing numbers of U.S. Jews are drifting away from Jewish traditions, a trend that is hard to reverse,” Axios says.
A recent U.S. State Department report on religious freedom noted concerns among American Jews about religious freedom in Israel.
“The report mentioned the fact the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate has exclusive control over marriage, divorce, and burials for [Israeli] Jews and does not recognize the Reform and Conservative denominations,” Axios says.
Israel’s new Foreign Minister will attend a meeting on religious freedom next week in Washington, chaired by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It will be Katz’s first official visit to the U.S. capital.
