Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely published an apology Thursday for her remarks on American Jewry.

In a Channel 2 interview Hotovely said that "to all those lonely soldiers who have grandparents who fought in the Second World War and are Americans, I salute you all. This was not my intention. I did National Service as an 18-year-old in Atlanta. For 20 years the subject of American communities in the US has occupied me and I think we are family."

Hotovely stressed that "they are my brothers, if anyone was hurt by my words I am truly sorry."