From conspiracies to court-bashing, Likud rabble-rouser Tally Gotliv demands to be heard

Last month, Tally Gotliv was forcibly removed from a hearing on the so-called Qatargate scandal at the Lod–Central District Court, after repeatedly interrupting the proceedings.

Asked to leave by a judge, the firebrand Likud lawmaker refused, claiming she had parliamentary immunity, whereupon security guards physically removed her from the room. Screaming from a bench in the hallway, Gotliv compared one of the guards to the “Judenrat,” the Nazi-established Jewish administrative councils that were forced to ensure Nazi orders were implemented.

Even for those accustomed to the lawmaker’s incendiary flame-throwing, the insult was beyond the pale. Condemnations poured in from foes and allies alike, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin. But Gotliv was unapologetic, accusing the guard of using violence against her and then “whining in the press.”

This was far from the first rodeo for the freshman legislator and former defense attorney. She has been in the news on multiple occasions for disrupting judicial proceedings, including at the High Court of Justice, has been censured for blaming a terror attack on the court’s president, and has called on Washington to impose sanctions on the attorney general.

She has also generated controversy with her social media posts and confrontational behavior in the Knesset, sharing conspiracy theories and frequently yelling at political opponents and critics of the government — including, at one point, a representative of a bereaved family.

Her pugnacious approach to politics has made her one of the Knesset’s more recognizable backbenchers and may be responsible for turning her into a rising star within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. A recent poll of party members published by the Walla news site found that Gotliv, who entered the Knesset at the 25th slot on the party’s slate, would come in second in a non-leadership primary, after current speaker Amir Ohana.

ועכשיו עם התיעוד:

ח"כ טלי גוטליב לאיש משמר בתי המשפט שהוציא אותה מהדיון: "בהמה"

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איש המשמר: "אני עושה את העבודה שלי"

גוטליב: "זו לא העבודה שלך. גם ליודנרט היו" pic.twitter.com/RfYcWeLRCn

— רועי ינובסקי (@Roi_Yanovsky) August 19, 2025

Speaking to The Times of Israel in a pair of interviews last week, Gotliv was dismissive of her showing, saying she is “not impressed by polls.”

She insisted that she is instead solely focused on fighting what she sees as “the very strong bureaucratic rule in the country” as well as a judicial system that she claimed was “doing everything it can” to harm Netanyahu and his right-wing government.

But the judiciary’s greatest ambition, Gotliv claimed, was to repeal the Nation-State law, a Basic Law passed in 2018 that designates Israel as a Jewish state. The court has thus far rejected multiple petitions against the law, ruling that it does not conflict with Israel’s democratic character.

Should she ride her popularity to a top spot in Likud following the next election, currently scheduled for next year, Gotliv said she could be “a very good justice minister” who would confront the judiciary.

Led by Levin, the coalition has attempted to enact far-reaching legislation remaking the judiciary and neutering its power to overrule the Knesset and government, sparking massive protests that overtook the country before the effort was sidelined by the war in Gaza.

Gotliv heartily endorsed the overhaul effort, indicating that she would take up the baton from Levin if given the chance.

“I am sure that there is nothing more frightening to the High Court judges and the heads of the legal system than if I were to be justice minister,” she said.

Checks and balances

Gotliv dismissed the argument that the courts are part of a system of checks and balances, insisting that the judiciary “has no authority to overturn laws.” The idea that the court should have the ability to strike down Knesset legislation that impinges on individual rights also holds no water with her, since, she claimed, they “have never been violated.”

She accused the court system of busying itself with “political and diplomatic matters” such as living conditions for security prisoners and “nullifying the power of the government.”

But it’s the court whose power should be restrained, Gotliv contended.

“The Supreme Court has made itself the supreme ruler in complete violation of the law and in a way that has no checks and balances on it,” she said.

Without a constitution formally enshrining the court’s powers, the judiciary is “not authorized to interfere with the decisions of the government,” the lawmaker argued.

Israel has never passed a constitution, instead relying on a system of malleable Basic Laws that courts have determined carry a quasi-constitutional status. Gotliv said she preferred the current ad hoc system rather than the passage of a democratic charter, indicating it could leave the state vulnerable to demographic changes.

“Why am I against a constitution in Israel? Because Israel has a special situation,” she said. “The State of Israel was established because of the Holocaust in Europe… and this state must be the state of the Jewish nation, and if there is a constitution… the Nation-State Law will be repealed as well as the Law of Return [which guarantees citizenship to Jews and their families].”

According to Gotliv, Israelis’ fundamental rights are already protected by the existing quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.

“History has proven that no laws have been enacted that violate human rights,” she said.

חזקי ברוך: ח"כ טלי גוטליב (הליכוד) בוועדה לביטחון לאומי: "ארצות הברית היא לא הידידה הכי טובה של מדינת ישראל. ארצות הברית החלישה את מדינת ישראל והחלישה את שיטות הלחימה במלחמה".
????זירה פוליטית‼️ pic.twitter.com/0MwSo7VT2B

— ???? זירה פוליטית‼ (@Zira_politit) April 10, 2024

Rather than being limited by the courts, government ministers should “be more assertive and use the powers they have,” she insisted.

‘I don’t shout’

A member of the Religious Zionist community originally from Bnei Brak, the 49-year-old Gotliv initially attempted to reach the Knesset in 2019, founding a parental rights party that garnered only a few hundred votes. After gaining a public profile with a regular spot on a Channel 13 news panel, she ran in Likud’s 2022 primary, placing 30th, but was bumped up to 25th place on the party’s Knesset slate, ensuring her entrance into the halls of power.

Before being elected, Gotliv was known mainly as a defense attorney for people accused of sex crimes, though even then she had a reputation for clamorous vitriol.

In 2017, she was briefly in the news after High Court Justice Menahem Mazuz, a former attorney general, yelled at her during a hearing, “Ma’am, shut your mouth.” Mazuz later apologized for his fit, but the court said in a statement that it came “after repeated outbursts from an attorney… who acted with hutzpah and a lack of respect toward the court.”

Little has seemingly changed, aside from her title. As a Knesset member, Gotliv has earned a reputation as a firebrand, interrupting court hearings, committee meetings and parliamentary debates to shout at and harangue her opponents.

Or so her critics say.

“I don’t shout. Not even a little,” Gotliv told The Times of Israel. “If you sit in committees, then you actually see that I answer in a matter-of-fact manner. The fact that I’m called a shouter is because it’s a method of the left to create a reputation.”

Turning to the recent incident in which she was ejected from the Lod–Central District Court, Gotliv argued that under the law she not only has “substantive parliamentary immunity” from criminal and civil liability but that any restrictions on citizens’ movement do not apply to MKs. By being removed for disrupting proceedings, it was actually her rights which were violated, she alleged.

“And before you say that I’m shouting — I am not shouting. I am allowed to make remarks. That is exactly the meaning of immunity. I have more rights than an ordinary citizen. Why? Because that is the meaning of being an elected official. You have additional rights so that you can carry out important and proper activity for your voters and for the people as a whole,” she claimed.

Asserting that Levin had made a “very serious mistake” in condemning her behavior, Gotliv pledged to continue making her voice heard and “continue to use my immunity, and whoever has reason to fear me will be afraid.”

Parliamentary immunity and conspiracy theories

The issue of immunity has been a recurring leitmotif of Gotliv’s short political career, with the legislator repeatedly insisting that the police and other authorities have no power to check her behavior, even when her rhetoric spills over into alleged slander.

In January 2024, then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar accused Gotliv of purposefully harming national security after she shared a conspiracy theory claiming that a prominent opponent of the government’s judicial overhaul had been caught talking to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar ahead of the October 7 massacre.

The claim prompted a NIS 2.6 million ($715,000) defamation suit, though at a hearing in September 2024, Gotliv was defiant, repeatedly interrupting the judge and telling him that he had no jurisdiction over her.

Gotliv also claimed that the Shin Bet was somehow involved and revealed that the protest leader’s partner worked for the security service, apparently breaking a law protecting agents’ identities.

Over the summer, the State Attorney’s Office announced that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was considering filing an indictment, subject to a hearing, against Gotliv over the outing.

Gotliv has refused to appear when summoned by police in the case. She told The Times of Israel that she “cannot be forced to appear for questioning” because her statements were made in the course of fulfilling her duties as a lawmaker. She accused the legal system of trying to “silence and terrorize members of Knesset.”

In an apparent attempt to resist against this perceived assault, Gotliv has pushed for legislation to increase parliamentary immunity, which does not currently grant lawmakers automatic immunity from prosecution unless requested and granted by the Knesset when relevant.

Her bill would prohibit the hearing of civil suits against lawmakers or opening of investigations into them unless the Knesset determines, with the support of 90 of the 120 MKs, that the activity the legislator is accused of undertaking was not carried out in the performance of their duties.

Gotliv has also spread internet conspiracy theories about former general Yair Golan, head of the opposition Democrats party, claiming that he was involved in espionage against Israel following the Hamas onslaught.

Asked about her critics’ claim that she is trafficking in misinformation, Gotliv replied that “we will never know the extent of the betrayal that took place on October 7.”

“I refuse to accept that all the senior officials are just careless and stupid,” she said. “I have no doubt that there was betrayal.”

Those seeking to cover up their alleged role in October 7 have “an interest” in branding her a conspiracy theorist, Gotliv alleged without evidence.

“So the focus is on me,” she said. “It bothers people that I influence public opinion, but God willing, I’ll continue to act and have an impact on public opinion and bolster the country’s right wingers.”