English and Hebrew editions of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – An article published by left-wing Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz drew widespread condemnation Wednesday for calling Israel’s national-religious community “more dangerous” than the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists.

In the article titled “More Dangerous than Hezbollah,” columnist Yossi Klein wrote “the national religious [Israelis] are dangerous, more dangerous than Hezbollah, more than drivers ramming their cars into people and girls with scissors.”

A statement posted on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page said, “The article in Haaretz is disgraceful, and they have lost it completely…Haaretz should apologize.”

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin similarly weighed in Thursday, saying the author’s words are “defamation that exposes a vast hatred and undermines any capacity to dialogue or criticize.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (HaBayit HaYehudi), Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (HaBayit HaYehudi) and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid each separately condemned the article, with Bennett tweeting, “When you think that Haaretz has reached its peak of humiliation, it always manages to surprise with a new low.”

Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken responded to the widespread condemnation via Twitter, posting, “I can’t figure out what all the excitement is (Pavlovian, I must say) over Yossi Klein’s column. He is just saying something similar to what I said six years ago.” Schocken was referring to a controversial article he wrote accusing Israel’s national-religious community of implementing apartheid.