Israeli citizens are in an uproar over politician Baruch Gazahay’s controversial comments about women and immodesty.

An Ethiopian-born, Israeli-raised Rabbi, he is set to become a Knesset member, which is causing a lot of concern regarding his beliefs and abilities to govern.

In a 2016 lecture, he claimed: “Women have to be covered up. This is one of the reasons women suffer from breast cancer, because everyone looks at them and it causes the evil eye. It is also one of the reasons why women have miscarriages. They post pictures of themselves on Facebook showing their exposed bellies.”

It’s hard to believe that anyone could believe such nonsense, but he was not doing it for shock value; those are his sincere beliefs. I guess a rational mind can’t make sense of such foolishness, because I’m really shocked.

This is just shaming, plain and simple. A lady’s clothing does not cause cancer and it does not cause miscarriage. I have personally known ultra Orthodox ladies, who wore wigs and long sleeves in the summer, that experienced both tragedies. I have also known secular Jewish ladies that wore string bikinis who went through it too. It has nothing to do with modesty! It occurs within the body, not because of how we clothe our bodies.

When confronted, he stated that his remarks were taken out of context and amounted to “a few sentences in a lecture.” While that may be true, the message itself is offensive and wrong.

Israeli women deserve much better representation from their elected officials. Modest dress and behavior is a good thing, but when taken to extremes, it can be used to silence and marginalize. We need a rational balance, well thought out and fair, not superstitions and slurs.