Deputy Chairman of the Jewish Agency in Rare Criticism of Smotrich and Ben Gvir | Watch
Yizhar Hess attacked at a conference: "I am a Zionist, but I understand those who look at Ben Gvir and Smotrich and say 'If that's the case - I am not a Zionist'" • Hess…
Assessment
A senior Jewish Agency official publicly broke ranks with coalition leaders, warning that their conduct is pushing people away from Zionism itself. Izhar Hess did not just criticize policy. He described a real dynamic where religious-nationalist figures like Ben Gvir and Smotrich are alienating Jews to the point of disidentification. The next stage, he warned, is people saying they are not even Jewish. This is not internal coalition squabbling. It is a senior figure in a mainstream institution saying the government's own allies are eroding the foundational identity of the state.