Yaakov Litzman, the Israeli counterpart of the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, is the leader of an ultra-Orthodox religious party.
During his visit to Israel on March 31, Marisol Touraine had to keep his hands in his pockets. The health minister of the country, Yaakov Litzman, did not wish him to shake hands. The French minister was traveling to Israel to talk with his counterpart on the theme: “How to manage the influx of victims in case of attacks?” But at the meeting, no handshake . The minister was not disconcerted so far, as reported by the newspaper the Express , which broke the story. Indeed, it would have been warned previously by the French protocol services. An attitude that, for the magazine Joods Actueel , has ” nothing to do with a contemptuous attitude “. Yaakov Litzman, leader of an ultra-orthodox religious party, wished to mark a ” strict physical separation between men and women outside marriage,” says the Jewish magazine. This is not the first time that Yaakov Litzman refused to shake the hand of a woman minister. In 2012, the Belgian Minister of the then Health, Laurette Onkelinx, was greeted in the same way. On Facebook, she said that this attitude had deeply disturbed . Marisol Touraine, has so far not announced its felt.
