Israeli minister said intermarriage among American Jews is ‘like a second Holocaust’: report

Rafi Peretz, Israel’s Minister of Education, reportedly said the rate of intermarriage among American Jew is “like a second Holocaust.”

Peretz made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting last week, according to Axios, who cited three sources that were in the room when he said it.

{mosads}His comments at the Cabinet meeting followed a briefing from Dennis Ross, chairman of the board of the Jewish People Policy Institute, who informed those in attendance on current trends in Jewish communities throughout the world, with a focus on those in North America.

As part of Ross’s briefing, the ministers present at the Cabinet meeting talked about the growing rate of marriages between Jew and non-Jews in the U.S., according to Axios.

Peretz, the newly appointed education minister, added that Jews “lost 6 million people” over the last 70 years due to intermarriage in America.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was present at the Cabinet meeting and was reportedly less concerned about the intermarriage trend and pointed to the increasing amount of American Jewish people who are drifting away from Jewish traditions.

Peretz’s spokesperson reportedly confirmed the account of the Cabinet meeting to Axios.