
The Board of Deputies of British Jews on Wednesday wrote a harsh message against MK Bezalel Smotrich.
"We reject the abominable views and hatred-inducing ideology of Bezalel Smotrich and call on all members of the British Jewish community to show him the door," they began in Hebrew.
In a subsequent tweet, the board commented on the latter part of their Hebrew tweet, writing that "The translation function doesn't quite convey the meaning of the last phrase."
"It's more like: 'Get back on the plane Bezalel and be remembered as a disgrace forever.'"
Smotrich later responded, tweeting, "Jews of Britain, I love you, all of you."
Former MK Yehuda Glick responded: "Not a very smart announcement. But you have your right to behave that way. Just for your interest Israel is a democracy, the only one in the ME, and here we believe in respecting even those whom we don't agree with. Happy to help."
Dr. Ronen Shoval, Dean of the Tikvah Fund and head of the Argaman Institute, said, "What happened to the famous British restraint? Even if some of you disagree with him, Bezalel Smotrich is a representative of the Knesset of Israel.You're saying more about yourselves than about Bezalel.Apologize."
Sara Ha'etzni Cohen, Chairwoman, My-Israel movement, said, "This response is very inappropriate.Bezalel Smotrich is the chairman of a party and was elected by hundreds of thousands of Israelis. You wouldn't dare express yourselves like this against a representative from the Left, even the most extreme. You had best take it back as soon as possible."