Far-right provocateur hurls homophobic abuse at gay secularist activist in Tel Aviv

Naor Narkis, who has gained notoriety for his anti-religious advocacy in ultra-Orthodox communities, was targeted by homophobic abuse in Tel Aviv last night by a group of right-wing activists including Mordechai David, a prominent far-right activist aligned with senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party who regularly harasses critics of the government.

Footage shows David and his companions shouting “f*ggot” and “tranny” at Narkis, filming him and trying to block him, as the secularist activist and his male partner enter the Tel Aviv Cinematheque holding hands.

מרדכי דוד חוסם את נאור נרקיס בדרכו לסינמטק.
מרדכי דוד ופעילי ימין נוספים ובהם ויקטור שריקי ואלירן סימנטוב, עוקבים אחרי נאור נרקיס אל תוך בניין הסינימטק ונכנסים לאולם הקולנוע ללא כרטיסים תוך שהם מתעלמים מהעובדת שנמצאת במקום.

תל אביב 09/05/2026 ????עופרי איתן pic.twitter.com/W7j64UNscN

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) May 9, 2026

David’s group can be seen following Narkis and his partner into a movie theater at the Cinematheque, even as staff say the right-wing activists cannot enter without tickets. The activists linger in the theater complex, with some of them taking seats, until security escorts them out.

Narkis and his partner say the right-wing group also made crude references to the couple’s sex life and yelled that the two men were “sick with AIDS.”

“Police who were on the scene did nothing,” Narkis writes on Facebook, calling on openly gay Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a member of Likud, to condemn the incident.

The Israel Police does not immediately respond to a request for comment on Narkis’s accusation.

The Aguda LGBTQ umbrella group says in a statement that “to stop a person who is walking with his partner, threatening him, blocking his path and hurling anti-LGBTQ abuse at him… is a moral low point.”

The homophobic attack was “especially concerning given Mordechai David has long enjoyed the public embrace of lawmakers and ministers from the coalition, and has even been personally invited to events alongside senior law enforcement officials,” the Aguda says, adding that it has asked police chief Daniel Levy to probe the incident.