Anti-vaxxer ‘Zoom bombs’ Knesset committee meeting on coronavirus with porn

A meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee was interrupted Sunday when an outside participant played a pornographic video in their Zoom window, apparently as an act of protest against the new coronavirus law bill being discussed.

In Knesset TV footage, committee chair MK Gilad Kariv (Labor) can be seen urging officials to “immediately” disconnect the Zoom feed and shut down its projection.

Kariv became frustrated as it took them a while to shut it all down.

“It’s nobody’s fault, but when the chairman calls for it to be disconnected it needs to be shut down immediately with the press of a button,” he said.

Hebrew media reported that the video was played by an anti-vaccination activist.

The meeting was eventually allowed to continue, but outside participants were barred from activating their screens.

“Opponents of the government received a real opportunity to express themselves during the debate on a new coronavirus law. It’s a shame that they have escalated their protests in recent days to include posting hurtful images during the last meeting,” Kariv wrote on Twitter after the incident.

He noted that the new law under debate in the meeting would give the Knesset greater oversight over emergency regulations put in place by the government, which are opposed by the protesters, including the Green Pass restrictions and testing requirements.

Kariv vowed that the committee would complete its legislative work “despite the trolls.”

The commander of the Knesset Guard was investigating the incident.

It’s not the first time the committee’s work has been disrupted by vulgar comments from Zoom participants.

In August, a participant called out “whore” multiple times while a top Health Ministry official.

The remarks came as Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at the ministry and a leading official in the government’s COVID-19 response, was speaking. It was not clear if the remark was directed at her.

In that incident too, Kariv called for the Knesset Guard to investigate.