Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman are "worse than the Nazis, traitors to their nation and haters of their own people," said ultra-Orthodox leader Rabbi Meir Mazuz at his weekly sermon on Saturday.
"We have bad people," he said, referring to the current Israeli governmental administration, "we are waiting for them to one day be out of this world." Mazuz said that the two ministers were worse than Nazis because, "the Nazis loved their people, and they hate their people," Walla reported.
Mazuz serves as the head of the Kiseh Rahamim (chair of mercy) yeshiva in Bnei Brak.
"The Nazis loved their people, but [Lapid and Lieberman] hate their people."
Rabbi Meir Mazuz
In his speech, he was discussing the miracles that the Jewish people have seen, particularly for Jerusalem Day, but criticized the current government for its "choking of Kollel men."
Reactions from politicians
Lapid said in response to Mazuz that "the Nazis murdered my grandfather in a concentration camp, tried to murder my father in the ghetto. My only answer to your words is that I love all the people of Israel and wish you a happy Jerusalem Day."
Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said that "incitement, harassment and hatred are still, unfortunately, a common language in the mouths of many in Israeli society. Rabbi Mazuz spreads free division and hatred under the pretext of religion."
Liberman's response was more dramatic, saying that "instead of core studies, Rabbi Mazuz chooses to teach hate. I didn't know that core studies, going to work and military service make you worse than the Nazis." Other political figures that condemned Mazuz's statements included Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
הרב מאזוז, הנאצים רצחו את סבא שלי במחנה ריכוז, ניסו לרצוח את אבא שלי בגטו. התשובה היחידה שלי לדבריך היא שאני אוהב את כל עם ישראל ומאחל לרב מאזוז יום ירושלים שמח, יום של אחדות ואהבת ישראל.https://t.co/7mpPjLHApw
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 29, 2022
Reform rabbi and Labor MK Gilad Kariv tweeted that Mazuz's yeshiva is "supported by the state in millions of shekels, but declares that government ministers are worse than the Nazis."
Kariv then called on Shas Knesset members, saying that if they "had a drop of decency, you would make your voice heard against the despicable and dangerous things that contain blasphemy and desecration of the memory of Holocaust victims and real incitement."
במקום לימודי ליבה, הרב מאזוז בוחר ללמד לימודי שנאה.לא ידעתי שלימודי ליבה, יציאה לעבודה ושירות צבאי זה יותר גרוע מהנאצים. בדיוק בשביל אנשים כמוך נכתב במקורות שבית המקדש ״מפני מה חרב? מפני שהייתה בו שנאת חינם״. pic.twitter.com/J7OMXpGSya
— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) May 29, 2022
Vad Vashem Chairman, Danny Dayan, said that Mazuz's statements are "outrageous and should not be heard at all, no less from the mouth of a rabbi in Israel in particular.