Yuli Edelstein
Yuli EdelsteinAdi Geffen/TPS

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein strongly condemned the skit involving tefillin that was broadcast last night as part of the "Eretz Nehederet" satirical show.

"When the KGB's secret agents dragged me to detention in Russia, they took everything away from me, but one thing I managed to sneak into the cell: a pair of tefillin. When they tried to take them away from me, I started a hunger strike. I knew that, without them, I could not survive. Eretz Nehederet - there are things that should not be done," Edelstein wrote.

MK Shuli Mualem-Refaeli (Jewish Home) slammed the program's creators this morning. "If the disgrace to tefillin, as was done yesterday, would have taken place anywhere else in the world, there would have been accusations in Israel of anti-Semitism."

"If it was not Iran or Turkey, but a European country, Israel would already have conveyed through official channels that this is not acceptable, but here in Israel, Jews choose to trample the honor of Judaism. Disgrace,” she wrote.

Eretz Nehederet producers responded this morning to the harsh criticism. "The skit dealt, among other things, with Netta Barzilai's win at Eurovision and the extensive public involvement in the subject. Netta's hairstyle was included on the heads of some of the characters participating in the skit, in different variations. There was no intention to hurt or degrade," they said.