Amichai Chikli, the Israeli government minister responsible for maintaining good relations between Israel and world Jewry, is apparently on a campaign to do just the opposite. After offending participants in New York’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade and viciously attacking J Street, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs now apparently has a new target: US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt.
In addition to being one of the world’s leading Holocaust historians, Professor Lipstadt was President Biden's choice to lead his administration’s effort to fight antisemitism, a job that she has performed ably.
On a radio interview Thursday, Chikli strongly alluded to Lipstadt being the anonymous White House official who criticized Chikli for his recent blunders. Answering a question about the senior administration official’s criticism, Chikli first condescendingly referred to Ambassador Lipstadt as, “a nice lady that I met, who deals with antisemitism.” It went downhill from there when he accused Lipstadt of being “a leftist” and ultimately dismissed her as “a clerk”. Lipstadt met with Chikli in Israel earlier this week.
After facing yet another round of criticism for his inappropriate behavior, Chikli attempted to backtrack and claim that he was referring not to Ambassador Lipstadt but rather to her deputy, Aaron Keyak. This lie is immediately disproven by his original statement referring to “a nice lady”.
Amichai Chikli’s behavior is despicable. His disdainful attitude toward American Jews severely damages the relationship between Israel and US Jewry and is a disservice to the people of both Israel and the United States.
APN's President and CEO Hadar Susskind said: "Chikli can't seem to stop insulting American Jews and then weakly lying about it when he gets called out. The ultimate responsibility for Chikli’s damaging conduct is in the hands of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu appointed Chikli and should either discipline or dismiss him to stop him from causing more harm."