This raised quite a ruckus with lots of people criticizing him for the comment about Struk.

Lapid chose not to apologize but to explain he was not referring to her appearance when he complained about having to look at her but for her statements and positions - he doesnt like that he has to look at her when she talks about giving the hostages up for dead to attack Gaza harsher, and the like.

Lapid later doubled down, explaining again that her appearance is not what he meant, and now he has tripled down and even says the Struk and Ben Gvir are in the same category.

Lapid should simply apologize. He is wrong not to and it will hurt him. Even if it is not what he meant, the way he said it left it to be understood that way. Even if he wants to insist that was not his intention, he should apologize for the insult in the way he said it. 

Getting that out of the way, the way the entire Right has come out attacking Lapid over this is hypocritical. For years the Right MKs and Ministers (along with journalists and activists and assistants and many others) have been calling Lapid (and others in his party and others on the Left) mean things and being just as nasty about Lapid as Lapid's comment was about Struk (at least in the way it was understood by most). So they can all be mean and insulting to him but when he is mean and insulting to someone on the Right it raises an uproar?

Another point - a powerful talking point in the response against Lapid is that Struk is smart, intelligent, dedicated and is the only one in the Knesset who saw in advance what would happen and kept warning about it.

In Struk's defense, she doesnt need to be defended because she saw in advance what would happen and warned about it. She should be defended because she is a human being and should not be spoken about like that. The Knesset has become the place with the worst behavior, the worst way of people talking to each other. I hope the general public does not look up to the elected leaders as models of society. Many of them are poor examples of how people should talk to each other, how people should behave with each other, no matter what accomplishments they have to their name or don't.

That being said, if they are all coming to her defense about her being so smart and being the only one who saw and warned in advance about the Hamas attack, why did none of them listen to her and act on it? Was dismissing her warnings a symptom of their own misogyny, similar to how the IDF Spotters were dismissed when they warned about what they saw Hamas doing? 

Struk says that at a time when Ukraine is at war with missile attacks, with no shelters or reasonable preparation for protection and safety in no way can it appear as if the government of Israel supports and encourages this dangerous trip. She then pleads with people to not endanger their lives, to not go, there are enough other places to go and daven...

Honestly, I am shocked the government of Israel funds this. I never knew that before. I dont know if it is a new thing or if it is something that has been done in the past as well. I dont know why they should fund a trip abroad for people who think it is important. Can they fund my vacation, to wherever I decide to go? What about if I daven at a kever while there? Maybe the USA or Dubai or a trip to Eastern Europe. I asked in response to her tweet but have not yet received an answer, and dont really expect one.

I thought for a moment that Israel funds March of the Living and probably some other trips abroad for things so why not this. Those however are the national interest, holocaust memorials, a large part of the impetus for the foundation of the State, and definitely for the international support for it. A trip to Uman seems very sectorial and a narrow segment, even if it is a big crowd...

I would not even be surprised if Minister Porush is behind this as another way to help his buddy Berland...

I should add, I did see some people comparing it to trips to kever yosef - will she call on people to stop going to kever yosef considering the danger always present? I am not sure it is the same. In Uman, the Ukranian governemnt is saying dont come, it is dangerous, we are at awar, we cant protect you. In kever yosef the IDF secures the trips and they are part of the original Oslo agreements (as far as I know) and as long as the IDf says they can secure it and ensure safety, it is ok. There are times where they cancel planned trips to kever yosef and other such locations because of known dangers.

  -- Minister Orit Struk

sure you are against it. uh huh. really sounds like it. instead of loudly criticizing the people burning down Arab villages you are loudly criticizing the heads of the security forcers who are trying to calm the region before it explodes into a full military action deteriorating on both sides.

After the criticism started pouring in from all over, Struk apologized for comparing them to the Wagner forces of rebellion but stuck to her guns about the rest.

  -- Minister of National Missions Orit Struk