‘Apologize!’ Justice minister slams fellow Likud MK for comparing court guard to Judenrat

Justice Minister Yariv Levin strongly condemns fellow Likud MK Tali Gotliv over her offensive remarks to a court security guard who physically removed her from a courtroom early today, in which she compared the guard to the Holocaust-era Judenraete and called him an ‘animal.’

The Judenraete were Nazi-established Jewish administrative councils that were forced to ensure Nazi orders were implemented.

“I was shocked by MK Tali Gotliv’s shameful conduct towards the security guards in the court, and I condemn it in the strongest terms,” says Levin.

“Comparing the security guards, the vast majority of whom are veterans of [military] combat units, to the ‘Judenraete’ and calling them ‘animals’ not only does not contribute to the struggle, but is a great disgrace, [and] shows contempt for the Holocaust,” he continues, adding that her conduct goes against the values of the Likud party.

The criticism is especially notable because Levin is the chief architect of the government’s contentious judicial overhaul and is perhaps the cabinet’s most outspoken critic of the court system.

The justice minister alleges that state law enforcement authorities were engaged in selective enforcement against Jonatan Urich, the suspect in the Qatargate scandal whose hearing Gotliv was attending. But Levin says that court security guards were “not responsible” for that situation.

“MK Gotliv’s behavior, her lack of respect and lack of collegiality towards the prime minister, cabinet ministers and her party members, her attacks against loyal Likud members who carried the movement on their backs during its difficult days, and the provocations she makes as her modus operandi, all of these do tremendous damage to the Likud as we approach an election year,” Levin says.

“MK Gotliv, stop embarrassing us! Apologize!” the justice minister demands.

In addition, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid addresses Gotliv’s remarks with a description of the Judenraete, in what appears to be an implied criticism. Lapid’s father, the late politician Tommy Lapid, was a Holocaust survivor.

“The ‘Judenrat’ was the Jewish leadership of the ghettos, appointed by the Nazis to manage ghetto life. Adam Czerniaków, for example, was the head of the ‘Judenrat’ of the Warsaw Ghetto. He received instructions from the Nazis to prepare lists of all the children in the ghetto. On the day he realized this meant sending children to the concentration camp, he took his own life,” Lapid posts on X.

“Today, MK Gotliv called the court security guards ‘Judenrat’ after they removed her from the courtroom for disrupting the discussion on extending the detention of Jonathan Urich,” he adds.