Gantz accuses Netanyahu of inciting violence after police clash with demonstrators

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Israeli protesters and police scuffle during a demonstration calling for an end to the war in Gaza and to bring home all the hostages held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attacks, in front of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Israeli protesters and police scuffle during a demonstration calling for an end to the war in Gaza and to bring home all the hostages held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attacks, in front of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP)

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of inciting violence, following an incident in which police are filmed forcefully shoving leader of The Democrats party Yair Golan and knocking him and several others to the ground during an anti-government demonstration in Jerusalem.

“What we have seen in the last few days was not born in a vacuum,” he posts on X, noting that on Wednesday a taxi driver rammed into a protester in what looked to be an intentional attack.

“All of this is a direct result of an extremist government that has lost its restraint and is busy widening the division among the people instead of [promoting] unity. Stop before a disaster happens,” Gantz says.

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