Former president of the Beersheba Magistrate's Court Oded Alyagon took heat after mocking former model Linor Abargil on Wednesday in a social media post in which he said he tried to watch the Independence Day ceremony she hosted but had "to flee for my life after a minute."
Alyagon went on to describe Abargil's head-covering as a "multilayered fez, of the sort observant women now wear."
Linor Abargil, who embraced Orthodox Judaism in 2010 after a modeling career that included wining the Miss World title in 1998, was wearing a head scarf as is common among married Orthodox Jewish women.
The post became hotly debated with right-wing religious activists pointing to it as "evidence" that the legal system is filled with people who hold a double standard regarding traditional Jewish values.
"If the woman hosting [the ceremony] was an Arab woman with a hijab he'd be the first to congratulate it," Itamar Ben-Gvir from Otzma Yehudit wrote on social media.
"He [the former judge] is consumed by hatred to his own people and heritage," Ben-Gvir wrote.
The head of Na'amat - Movement of Working Women and Volunteers, Haggit Peer, took a selfie with a head cover before Shabbat on Friday, saying: "We're all Linor Abargil. Nobody will teach us what is female spiritual power."
Spokesperson for the Judicial Authority said that Alyagon hadn't served on the bench for 13 years and called his statement "shameful."
"The court system washes its hands of it," the spokesperson said.