Left-wing activist said assaulted by Likud supporters outside Netanyahu rally
Itay Nevo suffers 2 broken teeth after teenagers hit him with metal rod, according to report; witness says attackers also hurled cinder block at counter-protesters
A left-wing activist was attacked Saturday by supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside a Likud campaign event in the city of Netanya that was attended by the premier, a report said Sunday.
According to the Haaretz daily, protester Itay Nevo said he was assaulted with a metal rod by two teenagers, with witnesses corroborating the details.
Nevo, 33, suffered two broken teeth and filed a police complaint, the report said.
Videos circulating on social media showed left-wing protesters on the sidelines of the Netanyahu rally, separated by police officers from hundreds of Likud supporters.
Posted by Crime Minister on Saturday, February 15, 2020
Some of the right-wing demonstrators were seen hurling epithets at the counter-protesters, such as “traitors” and “go to Gaza.”
The report said the assault happened after the officers accompanied the left-wing protesters to their vehicles and stopped separating the two groups of demonstrators.
A fellow protester, Dov Birenzweig, was cited by Haaretz as saying: “Suddenly three guys came from one of the alleys with a metal rod and hurled a cinder block at us. One person attacked Itay — they searched for him, hit him on the head and he was hurt.”
Another man, identified only as a foreign journalist, said he had witnessed such assaults before only in hardline West Bank settlements, not in cities in central Israel such as Netanya.
There was no immediate comment from police on the reported incident.
The Times of Israel Community.