Haaretz responds to reports that Economy Minister Naftali Bennett was pushed and punched as he left the stage at the Haaretz Peace Conference this afternoon, saying the Jewish Home head “took advantage of the inappropriate behavior of a single conference participant who jostled him gently in order to claim he was punched and to create headlines by misleading the press.”
Bennett was heckled when he went on stage to speak at the conference, to the point where he could not begin his talk.
When Bennett left the stage, he was said to have been jostled by multiple members of the audience. During the jostling, Bennett was reportedly punched in the back, spun around and demanded to know who had punched him. Before he could receive an answer, his security detail spirited him out of the hall.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at the Israel Conference for Peace, which opened today at David Intercontinnental Hotel in Tel-Aviv, Tuesday July 8, 2014. (photo credit: Flash90)
However, the paper said several witnesses, “including various journalists, said there was no punch, and that Bennett was surrounded by security guards at that moment who did not feel the need to intervene or detain any of those present.”
The paper “invited Bennett and other right-wing figures to the peace conference, just like it invites them to participate in its opinion section, in order to create an open, democratic and pluralistic dialogue. We are saddened that Minister Bennett chose to take advantage of this opportunity in order to besmirch the conference’s attendees and Haaretz itself.”
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Tuesday, July 8, 2014
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