After attempt on Trump, cabinet watches video of alleged incitement against Netanyahu
In 2-hour debate after cabinet secretary shows clips, several ministers warn incitement against PM even worse than in US, blame attorney general, law enforcement for failing to act
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs screened a compilation of video clips showing critics of the government engaging in “incitement against the prime minister” during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, following the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump the previous day.
The screening was followed by a two-hour debate on the issue, during which ministers pointed fingers at the justice system, law enforcement, and the attorney general for what they said was unchecked violent speech by members of the public against Netanyahu and his family.
The discussion, entitled “Incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” was not on the cabinet’s original agenda but was added after the attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Netanyahu himself protested in public remarks at the meeting that “the senior officials” in law enforcement and the judicial system “don’t say a word. They don’t condemn [incitement]. What you have here is legitimization for an assault on democracy, and you have here the normalization of political murder.”
The former US president has said he was lightly injured in the shooting when a bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. One attendee at the rally was killed and two were critically injured.
As of Sunday afternoon, the FBI had yet to publicly confirm the motive of the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks was a registered Republican who also donated $15 to a Democratic political action committee in 2021.
Ministers in Israel have been quick to compare incitement against Netanyahu to threats against Trump, claiming that the Israeli premier too could face an assassination attempt if the discourse is left unchecked.
In the short video aired by Fuchs at the start of the cabinet meeting, various people, including anti-government protesters, can be heard deriding Netanyahu as a “traitor,” “Satan,” and an “enemy of the people.”
Some of those featured appeared to be threatening violence against him.
In one clip, Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of Hamas hostage Yoram Metzger, can be heard saying “we are waiting with a noose.”
In the full quote, Metzger was referring to Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
“If the hostages don’t return, we will be waiting with a noose. This is what you deserve, the noose,” she said in the clip, which was apparently filmed at a demonstration outside Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea last month.
The video was also sent out to members of the press.
Following the screening of the video, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was reported by Channel 12 to have placed the blame for incitement squarely on the shoulders of Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara, with whom he has publicly sparred several times in the past, as well as on other lawmakers.
“The time has come to hold a hearing for those who prevent indictment, prevent enforcement, and enable incitement,” Ben Gvir said.
“[Labor MK] Na’ama Lazimi is a documented arsonist — a serious offense — and the attorney general won’t authorize an investigation into her… If it were any one of us [on the right], there’s no doubt that she would have investigated it by the next day,” the far-right minister claimed.
Lazimi was recorded in April adding a piece of wood to a bonfire lit by anti-government protesters on the Ayalon Highway. Following the incident, the police said that they were looking into opening a criminal investigation against her.
Justice Minister Yair Levin claimed that the justice system was refusing to take “tough and immediate” action against people accused of incitement against the prime minister.
“It’s a miracle that what happened in the United States hasn’t happened until now,” he said. “We’ve warned that it could happen here. The justice system has abandoned the prime minister.
“It’s not writing on the wall,” he continued,. “It’s much, much more than that.”
The justice minister claimed that in recent months, he had held a “long series of conversations” with Baharav Miara on the issue of incitement.
“We warned time and time again that such an event could happen here. It’s only a matter of time,” he said, alleging that basic requests on the matter had gone ignored.
Levin claimed he had asked for relevant parties to “make a clear public statement declaring that the law enforcement system will not accept incitement, calls of ‘traitor’ like those we have seen, and similar things.” He added that a request for “tough and immediate action against those who incite murder and certainly against those who resort to violence” was also ignored.
“One might interpret that as an agreement that these things are fine and allowed,” he told the cabinet.
Similar sentiments were also voiced by other ministers both in and out of the cabinet meeting, including by Communications Minister Shlomo Khari who claimed that the situation in Israel was “doubly serious” as in the US.
“The assassination attempt on President Trump comes following unending incitement against him in the US,” Karhi said ahead of the meeting. “The serious incitement against the prime minister, his wife, and son, is closer than ever to being implemented,” he warned, claiming that the attorney general and state prosecution consent and encourage the incitement.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote on X that “a horrifyingly identical campaign of incitement is being waged against Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
At the end of the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu himself chimed in to declare that there was an issue of “selective enforcement.”
“There are serious and dangerous statements here. There is selective enforcement,” Netanyahu told the ministers. “We all remember how they acted against roadblocks during the days of the [right-wing protests against the 2005 Gaza] disengagement, and what response it is getting now. There is simply enforcement here that is selected, and it isn’t normal.”
Earlier in the meeting, the premier condemned the attempt on Trump’s life, declaring that the shooting was “not only a heinous crime [but] also an attempt to assassinate American democracy.”
Netanyahu himself has been repeatedly accused by the left over the years of encouraging incitement that led to the 1995 assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, or at least of contributing to the incendiary political climate that led to the murder.
Ben Gvir, too, has been accused of having played a part in the discourse leading up to Rabin’s murder, as he came into the public eye when he was filmed bragging about having stolen the emblem from Rabin’s car, weeks before his murder.
“Just like we got to this emblem, we can get to Rabin,” the ultranationalist minister said at the time.
Following the cabinet meeting and amid accusations of incitement from all sides, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz issued a strong appeal for civility in Israel’s political discourse, quoting Rabin’s statement that “violence erodes the foundation of democracy” to drive his point home.
“These days, when we have returned to the discourse of October 6 on steroids, we must say in a clear voice: there is no place for hatred and violence in a democratic country, in any shape or form, on any side of the political map,” Gantz wrote on X.
“Violence is a danger to any democratic society, and we must not be indifferent to it, no matter from which direction it comes, no matter how great our differences. It is forbidden to act with physical or verbal violence against demonstrators and politicians and against the prime minister,” he added.
Pushing back against anticipated criticism from those who would deny the existence of incitement in the anti-Netanyahu camp and accuse him of serving the prime minister’s interests, Gantz said that “the time has come to wake up about ourselves” and engage in introspection.
“This is also true for the prime minister, who must act to stop the incitement that is being spread online on his behalf,” he added. “We must unite in a call from all party leaders against any kind of incitement or violence.”
