The Foreign Ministry has summoned New York Consul General Asaf Zamir to Jerusalem to explain comments he made a public event, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.

The official referenced a video clip first published by the Walla news site and widely circulated on social media in which Zamair made pro-democracy comments in which he appears to be criticizing the government’s judicial overhaul plan.

“We are in a very dramatic period. I have been in New York explaining Israel, representing Israel for the last 18 months. Sometimes it’s things I agree with and sometimes it’s things that I do not agree with.”Asaf Zamir

What did Asaf Zamir say?

“We are in a very dramatic period. I have been in New York explaining Israel, representing Israel for the last 18 months. Sometimes it’ things I agree with and sometimes it’s things that I do not agree with,” Zamir said. 

But during the last few weeks, he explained, he had become “deeply concerned about the direction the country is going in right now.

“If we want a national home and we want it to be everyone’s home, it has to be democratic,” he added.

Zamir who was appointed to the post in 2021, is a former Tourism Minister and Knesset member, as part of the Blue and White party lead by former Defense Minster Benny Gantz.