Naftali Bennett Sues Rabbi Who Claims His Mother Isn’t Jewish
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has sued an Israeli rabbi who claims that Bennett’s mother, Myrna, is not Jewish. Bennett has filed a 1 million shekel lawsuit against Rabbi Ronen Shaulov, who has publicly claimed that Myrna Bennett is a convert through the Reform Judaism movement in the United States and therefore is not considered Jewish under religious law. The Bennett family made aliyah from San Francisco in 1967, but some of her relatives were killed during the Holocaust or escaped from Europe to the United States. She told Israel’s 103FM Radio on Thursday that she supports her son’s lawsuit. “When it first came out half a year ago, I was in shock. I thought about my parents who came to the US from Poland and Russia because of pogroms and half of their families stayed in the hands of the Nazis. Suddenly it happened to me in the beginning, I thought that it was something weird that would pass and now I understand that it all begins to be fact to those who want to believe it,” she said. In his lawsuit, Bennett claims that Google users searching for his mother are automatically suggested to add the search terms “Christian” or “convert”, suggesting that Shaulov’s statement “took deep hold” among much of the public. He said he would donate any proceeds from the lawsuit to charities that help families of Israel Defense Forces soldiers who died in combat.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
