Labor chief: Cops’ assault on MK ‘resembles totalitarian regimes’; police: Lawmaker behaved ‘provocatively’

Labor party leader Yair Golan chastises police over what Labor MK Naama Lazimi says was an assault on her by officers during an anti-government protest near the Histadrut labor union building in Tel Aviv.

Social media videos from tonight show officers appearing to try to remove Lazimi from the protest. She has told media outlets that “policemen assaulted” her and pulled her hair while she was “trying to help another protester.”

שוטרים התנפלו על ח״כ נעמה לזימי, תפסו ודחפו אותה ונתנו לה מכה בפנים לאחר שניסתה לסייע לעצורה. פשוט בושה וחרפה. זו פעם נוספת שבה שוטרי משטרת ישראל משתמשים באלימות נגד חברת הכנסת שמסייעת למוחים נגד האלימות המשטרתית pic.twitter.com/LVn7ecliTg

— בר שם-אור Bar Shem-Ur (@Bar_ShemUr) June 29, 2024

“The police violence directed tonight against MK Naama Lazimi, who was protecting hostage families with her own body, and against protesters in Jerusalem crosses a red line, is frightening and resembles totalitarian regimes,” Golan says on X, alleging “politicization” of the force by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“The job of the police is to protect citizens and not to be a private militia of a convicted criminal that beats up citizens and opposition members,” he adds.

Police respond to Lazimi in a statement, asserting that she was trying to prevent cops from confiscating the phone of a protester arrested for lighting a fire on the road.

“Contrary to her claims about allegedly being hurt by police officers, and in order to prevent misleading of the public and defamation of cops, we clarify that in practice, the Knesset member is using her [parliamentary] immunity to disturb officers trying to do their job,” the force says.

“We regret that a public official is behaving provocatively.”