Protest against hate crimes held opposite Likud HQ in Tel Aviv
Part of major road blocked as marchers cry 'Incitement begins with the prime minister'
A major Tel Aviv road was blocked to traffic Saturday night as some 200 demonstrators held a rally against hate crimes, similar to the one held last week in the city.
“Incitement begins with the prime minister,” demonstrators called as they gathered across from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party headquarters building on King George Street.
The rally on Saturday comes after similar, but much larger rallies last week in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities. The rallies were held following the terror attack in the Palestinian village of Duma where the house of a family of four was firebombed, allegedly by Jewish extremists. Two members of the family have died, while two are being treated in an Israeli hospital near Tel Aviv.
Ten days ago, a day before the terror attack, an ultra-Orthodox extremist stabbed six people at the Jerusalem pride parade. The man, Yishai Schlissel, had been incarcerated for a similar crime he committed during the 2005 pride parade.
During last week’s rally in Tel Aviv, Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz was loudly heckled when he came to speak to the crowd.
Steinitz was one of numerous speakers at the protest organized by Peace Now.
The minister, a close confidant of Netanyahu, was booed during his address and some protesters held out hands painted in red to symbolize blood, and yelled slogans such as “homophobia and racism come from the government.”
Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett and Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal were barred from speaking at the event because they refused to sign a form drawn up by the organizers committing themselves to legislative activism. “I think they’re making a mistake,” said Magal. “I was asked to sign something. I’m not prepared to do so.”
Several politicians from the opposition openly blamed the Netanyahu government for what they called a general atmosphere of tolerance toward Jewish extremists. This attitude, they said, led to the stabbing attack at the parade in Jerusalem and to the firebombing in the village of Duma.