Messianic Jews are more accepted in Israel today than ever before, but faith in Jesus remains a sensitive topic, as demonstrated by how it was weaponized during the recent election.

With just days to go before the November 1 vote, reports began popping up claiming that Interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s wife, Lihi, had come to faith in Jesus as Messiah.

A local Messianic leader repeated the claim during a public appearance, bringing the matter before the pro-Israel Christian world, and articles that spoke favorably of Jesus showed up on Lihi’s personal website.

See also: What Has Happened to the Messianic Jews in Israel?

In a social media post last week, Lihi Lapid insisted that the articles on her website had been planted by political opponents. But more importantly, she announced a lawsuit against an American rabbi for defamation after he used the claims as a political smear against her and her husband.

According to Lihi, Rabbi Tovia Singer, a known anti-Messianic activist, “spread the message that I was no longer Jewish, that I had converted to Christianity.”

This, Lihi insisted, was simply not true, and she touted the fact that she is the great-granddaughter of Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel (1882-1946), the former chief rabbi of Antwerp and then of Tel Aviv.

More than that, stressed the Israeli leader’s wife, “my Judaism together with my Zionism is my identity.”

“No one will place any doubt on my Jewishness,” she continued.

According to the prime minister’s wife, Rabbi Singer has since apologized for calling her a Christian.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

This is an extremely sensitive topic. On the one hand, Israel greatly values the support of Christians around the world, and many today appreciate that Christianity is deeply rooted in the biblical faith of Israel. Even so, saying that someone believes in Jesus as Messiah remains a serious accusation, especially in politics, as it is still commonly equated with abandoning Judaism and the Jewish people.

We intend to follow up this story, so stay tuned.