Opposition, coalition lawmakers slam Likud MK for calling protesters ‘Hamas’

Lawmakers from both the opposition and the coalition slam Likud MK Nissim Vaturi for referring to anti-government protesters as a “branch of Hamas.”

Without naming Vaturi, Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar of Likud says such a statement “deepens the enormous rift that exists in our nation.” Likud Education Minister Yoav Kisch says the comparison is unfounded and “we must remember that we are brothers.”

Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar calls the comment “dangerous and irresponsible,” while Labor MK Naama Lazimi says that Vaturi is correct in saying that Hamas has “several branches… including the long money branch that Bibi [Netanyahu] tended to for many years.”

In a post on X, Vaturi backtracks and falsely claims that his comments were taken out of context, writing that the protests “harm our national resilience,” but that “the horrible actions of the Hamas Nazis are not fit to be compared to any protest or political act.”