A former member of Israel’s parliament member faced a backlash on social media after calling Tuesday’s deadly port explosions in Beirut a “gift” from God in a post shared to Facebook.
Aug. 6, 2020
The leader of Israel’s far-right Zehut party, Moshe Feiglin, appeared to delete the post Facebook post before Thursday afternoon. Feiglin initially shared it on Wednesday, screenshots of the message show. Screenshots were published by news outlets and tweeted by social media users alongside their criticism.
“Today is Tu B’Av, a day of joy, and a true and huge thank you to God and all the geniuses and heroes really (!) who organized for us this wonderful celebration in honor of the day of love,” Feiglin wrote on Facebook, according to Middle East Monitor. Tu B’Av is a Jewish holiday similar to Valentine’s Day.
“Marking Tu B’Av holiday, we’ve got a fantastic fireworks show from Beirut’s port,” he reportedly said elsewhere in the post. He also suggested the explosions were not caused by an industrial accident and reportedly told a local radio station later that Israel “should be proud” if it was somehow responsible.
