Herzog condemns Smotrich’s ‘dangerous’ discourse against Supreme Court chief; minister doubles down

President Isaac Herzog condemns Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remark earlier today that he will “trample” Supreme Court President Isaac Amit.

“The violent discourse is very concerning and dangerous,” Herzog says in a statement. “I strongly condemn the use of such a violent term as ‘trampling.’ Our elected officials have a duty to lead decent and clean discourse.”

Smotrich has refused to back down, claiming on X this evening — before Herzog’s statement — that “what’s common to all my populist critics is that they didn’t hear my words before lashing out at me.”

Calling them “a violent, mouth-shutting mob that doesn’t know how to deal with different opinions,” Smotrich writes that “Isaac Amit and the Supreme Court, with megalomaniac violence, robbed democracy from Israeli citizens, as the more they become extreme in their destructiveness, the fix will be more drastic.”