Meretz MK says man held for defiling tefillin likely ‘an impersonator’

A Meretz party MK says a man arrested for rubbing tefillin on his crotch at a voting booth while wearing a Meretz shirt was likely an impersonator.

“To be clear, without a doubt, I completely condemn this deplorable behavior,” writes MK Michal Rozin. “We are investigating the incident.”

“In the meantime none of our Meretz field activists recognize this man, which raises suspicions he could be an impersonator,” she says.

“At the end of the probe, we will file a complaint against him.”

Police earlier said they arrested a Netanya resident on suspicion of “harming religious sentiment by making improper use of tefillin.”

Video shows the man, 61, in a Meretz shirt taking the traditional prayer phylacteries from a kiosk in the city and rubbing them on his crotch, outside his clothing, despite the protests of the volunteers working at the site.