MK Kahana stops traffic to rescue kitten, then needs tetanus shot

Curiosity may have almost killed the cat — but a quick-thinking politician saved the day instead.

Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana, a Yamina MK, was filmed stopping his car in the middle of the Ayalon highway near Tel Aviv during rush-hour traffic Monday morning to save a kitten stuck underneath a car.

In the video shared by Channel 12 Knesset reporter Daphna Liel, Kahana and two other men can be seen trying to encourage the kitten to come out from underneath the car as other commuters slowly roll past the unexpected scene.

Liel tweeted the video with the comment: “If you’re stuck in the traffic jam on the Ayalon-North, this is the reason: Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana stopped traffic to save a kitten stuck under a car.”

After successfully extracting the terrified kitten from underneath the car, Kahana can be seen running to the side of the road where he returned the kitten to safety.

Liel followed up the video with a photo of Kahana receiving a tetanus shot at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital. According to Liel, Kahana was scratched by the kitten during the incident and therefore sought treatment.

אם נתקעתם בפקק באיילון צפון זו הסיבה:
סגן השר מתן כהנא עצר את התנועה כדי להציל גור חתולים שנתקע בתוך מכונית pic.twitter.com/YySDM6r2lA

— דפנה ליאל (@DaphnaLiel) July 18, 2022

Kahana, a former IDF colonel who has been a member of Yamina since 2019, is currently weighing his political future ahead of the upcoming November 1 election. With the party recently taken over by Ayelet Shaked and polling below the electoral threshold, Kahana has been rumored to be exploring political runs with several other factions.

And with his political fate far from certain heading into November’s election, he may be hoping the grateful kitten rewards his heroic efforts with one of its nine lives.