The former leader of the left-wing Meretz party Zehava Galon sparked an online firestorm after tweeting a photo of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in a momentary hand gesture that resembled the infamous Nazi salute, with the caption "Heil Kahane".
Referencing Meir Kahane, an unapologetically racist Jewish ultra-nationalist activist and former Knesset member that Ben-Gvir admittedly followed in his younger years, the unsavory post spurred a backlash that prompted Galon to delete it shortly thereafter.
However, the dovish former lawmaker refused to apologize for the post and followed up with another tweet, saying "I deleted the tweet, still waiting for racism to be deleted from the Knesset."
While Israel's political left reviles Ben-Gvir's positions — including his controversial visit to Temple Mount, a Jerusalem site sacred to both Muslims and Jews, on his first week as national security minister — comparisons to the Nazis are largely considered taboo in Israeli society regardless of political affiliation.
Itamar Ben-Gvir has responded by saying: "This is reprehensible. She's not insulting Itamar Ben-Gvir, she's insulting the memory of six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. If the situation was reversed, the press would have been all over it. I already have an ongoing lawsuit against Galon and maybe it's time for another one."
Helmed by Galon, Meretz failed to secure any Knesset seats in the latest general elections, falling short of entering the Israeli legislature for the first time in its three decades in existence.