Judge criticizes police for not arresting actual perpetrators of assault on MK Odeh
Court frees all 3 apprehended suspects, says cops failed to prove they committed crimes, notes videos show dozens of rioters involved; separate racist incident at Jerusalem cinema
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The three suspects who were arrested by police on Saturday in connection with a assault on top Arab MK Ayman Odeh by right-wing demonstrators were released from detention the next day, with a judge saying their involvement wasn’t proven and criticizing police for not apprehending others who were seen leading the attack in footage from the incident.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all but one of his ministers remained silent on the incident, while one lawmaker voiced her full-throated endorsement of the riot, in which demonstrators surrounded Odeh’s car, shouting “Death to Arabs” as they banged on the windshield and broke glass.
Odeh, accused by many on the right of supporting terror, recently survived a Knesset attempt to oust him.
Judge Guy Maimon, of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, ordered the three suspects released, saying the video evidence presented by police did not show those who were arrested committing the actions that the police attributed to them.
Two of the men — Eden Sarafian, 31, and Pinchas Amar, 36 — were released to house arrest.
The third suspect, a 15-year-old male, was released without conditions.
The judge also stated that numerous other members of the mob who surrounded and attacked Odeh’s car could be seen committing the crimes for which the two men were arrested, but were not themselves arrested.
גבעת חביבה מגנה בתוקף את התקיפה הפיזית נגד חבר הכנסת איימן עודה @AyOdeh.
בהודעה נמסר: האלימות הפוליטית שאירעה אתמול בנס ציונה היא תוצאה ישירה של שיח מסית ומפלג, שמקבל לגיטימציה ממנהיגים בכירים בממשלה ובכנסת.
כאשר מנהיגים מסיתים – המציאות בשטח הופכת מסוכנת. התקיפה שבוצעה לעיני… pic.twitter.com/bbd3ydkIzQ— Yasser Okbi (@OkbiYasser) July 20, 2025
Yaron Forer, Sarafian’s public defender, echoed this argument, saying that “out of dozens of people who, right in front of the police, hit MK Odeh’s car,” including those who smashed its back window, “only three were arrested. This is selective enforcement by the police. They just took suspects, without proving anything about them.”
The attorney presented videos of the incident in court, and said: “You see dozens of people attacking the car, and it’s precisely the one who didn’t do anything, and just stood and shouted, [who was arrested]. The one time we see him, he’s trying to kick the car in the presence of police officers who are surrounding the car and pushing him away.”
The detainees were suspected of intentionally damaging a vehicle. A police representative, speaking to the Ynet news site, also accused the men of “threats,” but no such charge is actually being pursued.
Alongside the accusations of “selective enforcement,” the police have come under criticism from the group that organized the protest that Odeh was on his way to speak at when he came under assault. The organizers said they had warned the police of potential violence and requested the presence of reinforcements, which they didn’t receive. (Odeh did speak later, and had objects thrown at him as he was shouted at.)
קריאות מוות לערבים, השלכת אבנים ושבירת שמשות אינם מחאה, אלא גזענות ואלימות גרידא. שרים, חברי כנסת ועיתונאים שמנרמלים בשתיקה את האלימות והגזענות כי מדובר בנבחר ציבור ערבי, אחראים לרצח הפוליטי הבא במדינת ישראל ולא משנה אם הקורבן ערבי או יהודי. pic.twitter.com/dqK2vLhNbE
— מוחמד מג'אדלה محمد مجادلة (@mmagadli) July 19, 2025
Odeh himself raised this point in a video he posted to his X account on Sunday, saying he called the organizers of the protest — against the Gaza war and for a comprehensive deal with Hamas to return all the hostages — to tell them about threats he’d received, and they said they’d notify the police.
“I called the organizers, I informed them, and I said to them — with fascists, you don’t surrender. You don’t give up. You need to defeat them. I want to come. The organizers were brave. They said to me: Inform the police [about the threats], and come,” he added.
“I want to say to you: The right will be violent, and more violent, and more violent, against all of us,” Odeh said in the six-minute video, in which he repeated several times that the choice was “between fascism and democracy,” called for an end to the war in Gaza, and urged Jewish-Arab political partnership.
“They’re the extremists. We choose life. Life of Jews and Arabs, to live with those wonderful things: peace, democracy, equality, social justice — we’re right, they’re fascists, and together, we will defeat them,” he said, invoking language frequently used to refer to an Israeli military victory against Hamas.
The assault against Odeh on Saturday drew speedy condemnation from leaders of Israel’s centrist and left-wing opposition parties. That night, President Isaac Herzog also condemned the incident, writing on X, in both Hebrew and Arabic, that “using criminal violence is not just unacceptable and against the law, it also poses a deep threat to Israeli democracy. Those responsible for this ugly act must be fully brought to justice.”
Government silent; Likud MK says she’s ‘proud’ of the rioters
Within the government itself, however, a lone statement of condemnation was issued, by Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the Shas party, who demanded that law enforcement bring the “violent rioters” to justice. Arbel was set to submit his resignation from the government Sunday, following in the footsteps of the other Shas ministers who have stepped down over the failure to pass a law exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service.
Meanwhile, MK Tally Gotliv, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, endorsed the violence, declaring on X: “Not only do I not condemn the right-wing protesters against Ayman Odeh, the terror supporter, in Ness Ziona, I’m proud of them!
“Ayman Odeh is the biggest terror supporter in Israel, who from the Knesset podium calls our soldiers murderers, slaughterers, war criminals! Every terror supporter who hurts our soldiers and helps our murderous enemies should know that the street won’t accept it quietly,” Gotliv wrote.
“He who cries ‘Gaza has won and Gaza will win’ and supports the murderers and rapists and kidnappers and abusers — let him sit at home, hidden away,” she continued, voicing her “respect,” by contrast, for “the right-wing protesters, who aren’t confused.”
“Ayman Odeh is a domestic enemy who, with the sponsorship of the Supreme Court, serves as an MK in the Israeli parliament while he seeks to undermine the existence of the state of the Jews in the Land of Israel, a state with equal rights for all its citizens, not for those who undermine it!”
The Knesset last week failed to pass a motion to expel Odeh from the legislature.
The petition had been put forth in January, after Odeh said he was “happy for the release of hostages and prisoners,” referring to a deal with Hamas that saw some of those abducted by terrorists on October 7, 2023, freed from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian inmates held in Israeli prisons, many of whom were convicted on terror charges.
The petition had clinched the number of signatures required to bring it to a vote after Odeh said during an anti-war protest in Haifa in May that “Gaza has won and Gaza will win.” But of the 90 MKs needed to support it out of the 120 total lawmakers, the motion to expel him was only supported by 73.
Racist incident in Jerusalem movie theater; no arrests
Saturday night also saw a racist incident in Jerusalem, when dozens of Jewish youths were filmed trashing a movie theater while chanting “Death to Arabs” and throwing objects at the employees behind the concession stand counter.
Police said Sunday that no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.
סינמה סיטי ירושלים אתמול: נערים מתפרעים, משליכים חפצים לעבר עובדים במקום, מתקהלים ושרים ״מוות לערבים״@GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/267PbK6Gm8
— נועם נקש || Noam Nakash (@nakash_noam) July 20, 2025
Footage from the theater showed masses of young men throwing floor signs, disposable cups and what appears to be a motorcycle helmet at Arab employees at Jerusalem’s Cinema City theater. The workers responded, throwing objects back over the counter while giving the middle finger to the crowd.
Police told The Times of Israel that the crowd of rioters had fled the scene by the time officers arrived.
“No suspects were detained because they had already left, and the employees were unable to identify the suspects when police were there. We are therefore working off the footage to identify [the suspects],” said a Jerusalem District spokesman.
The Times of Israel Community.