Air gun fired at Blue and White event as Lapid speaks; 2 activists hit but okay
Perpetrators fire pellets from passing car, flee; Lapid vows not to be deterred in face of ‘incitement’
An election event by the Blue and White party in the central Israeli city of Rehovot was interrupted Thursday evening when shots were fired from an air gun at participants, the party said.
The incident occurred during a speech by the centrist party’s No. 2 and co-leader, Yair Lapid, to some 150 party members and supporters.
The shots were reportedly made from a passing vehicle that quickly fled the scene.
Two party activists were hit by pellets in their limbs. “The activists are okay except for superficial injuries,” the party said in a statement.
Police forces and medics were called to the scene. The two people who were hit by pellets went to the city’s police station to file a complaint.
Police said officers at the scene identified the pellets as plastic, and shot from a low-power air gun. In a statement, it said two male suspects, aged 26 and 16, had been arrested, and that the circumstances were being investigated.
“During a speech by Yair Lapid we heard two shots,” said Zohar Blum, Blue and White’s local leader in Rehovot and the city’s deputy mayor. “Fortunately they were only lightly wounded but it is saddening that this happens during an election campaign in a democracy.
“I just hope this issue won’t deteriorate because this time, by luck, it ended like this, but it could have ended differently,” he told Channel 12 news. “We hope police will locate the perpetrators.”
Lapid also reacted to the incident, hinting it might be linked to “incitement.”
“We will not be deterred or scared,” he said. “We will continue fighting to change the country in the face of violence and incitement.”
Blue and White was formed ahead of the April elections by a union of Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience party, Lapid’s Yesh Atid and former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem.
It is the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, having won 35 seats in the April elections to Likud’s 36. It is currently polling neck-and-neck with the ruling party ahead of the September 17 vote, which Netanyahu initiated when he failing to form a government in the wake of the previous elections.
The Times of Israel Community.