Herzog tells protesters ‘Kahanism needs to be removed from the government’

President Isaac Herzog appears to agree with a small but loud group of protesters near his home in northern Tel Aviv that extremist elements need to be removed from the current government, as they berate him for allegedly not doing enough to protect Israel’s democracy.

As the president stands surrounded by security guards and holding a tallit bag and prayer books, apparently coming from or going to synagogue, one of the activists shouts, “You’re the president of a Kahanist government, you have to jump up and down about it.”

The protesters seem to be referring to ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a self-described disciple of the late rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the now-banned Kach party, which advocated for positions such as expelling Arabs from Israel and the West Bank and banning sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews.

Amid the frenetic confrontation, Herzog agrees with the protesters, saying, “Of course, the Kahanism needs to be removed from the government.”

A video of the incident posted to social media shows a small group of activists constantly interrupting and speaking over the president as he tries to speak about his efforts to bring about unity within Israeli society amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

When the protesters asked him to label far-right members of the government — specifically Ben Gvir — as a “danger to democracy,” Herzog says that he speaks up when he feels it’s necessary, as he did last year during the contentious judicial overhaul pushed by Netanyahu’s hawkish government.

He tells the protesters that he believes in “the State of Israel and Israeli society and Israeli democracy.”

“And Israeli democracy will win,” the president adds.

But the protesters reject his insistence that he represents all Israeli people and has repeatedly called for unity with cries of, “So what!”

After some of the activists quiet down the crowd, Herzog reiterates that he meets with the families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza every day, along with bereaved Israelis.

“You’re just giving me grief,” he tells the demonstrators.