Tal Gilboa, a hardline animal rights activist who was reported in recent days to be tapped as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s next spokesperson, will not be appointed to the position, according to multiple reports Sunday, after a series of xenophobic and homophobic remarks attributed to her resurfaced over the weekend.

Gilboa’s appointment to the spokesperson position, which was recently vacated following a separate controversy surrounding the now-former spokesman’s history of racist remarks, was announced over the weekend by her partner, but had not been publicly confirmed by either her or the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not reply to a request for comment from The Times of Israel.

Most media reports, including on Ynet, Channel 12, and Israel Hayom, framed her as a direct replacement for Ziv Agmon, who stepped down from the post last week. The Walla news site gave a different take, saying Gilboa, who has no previous experience in the role, had been offered an opportunity to join the PMO not as a primary spokesperson, but as a member of Netanyahu’s “spokesperson team.”

The reports indicated that the media storm over Gilboa’s appointment had led to its cancellation.

News of Gilboa’s expected ostensible appointment was met with backlash from Netanyahu’s political opponents, after a Channel 12 report on Saturday highlighted her history of making bigoted and prejudiced remarks.

According to the report, Gilboa has used offensive language to refer to Russian Israelis and to members of the LGBTQ community. She has also, as a hardline animal rights activist and vegan, made derogatory remarks about meat-eaters.

Channel 12 quoted Gilboa as saying she would not donate blood to an elderly leukemia patient or an 8-year-old cancer patient, as they were not vegans, stating that if a meat-eater dies, that means “less suffering.”

She also reportedly called a social media user a “gay piece of crap” and referred........

© The Times of Israel