‘Political terrorism’: Opposition blasts Netanyahu after attack on anti-government protesters

Leaders of the Knesset opposition blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the physical attack on protesters demanding a hostage deal in the central city of Rehovot this evening.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says the attack is the result of the “violent poison machine leading the government.”

“We won’t stop and won’t abandon the hostages until everyone returns home,” he writes on X.

The “poison machine” is the name some avowed critics of Netanyahu use for what they say is a network of pundits, journalists, influencers and activists dedicated to besmirching the premier’s political rivals.

“Tonight’s violence against protesters is not an accident, it is a direct result of the incitement led by Netanyahu and his partners. It is political terrorism aimed at silencing and deterring,” The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan claims, vowing to “not give up” until the hostages are freed, the war is ended and Israel is saved from “corruption, incitement and fear.”

During the incident, the attackers yelled, “King Bibi,” referring to Netanyahu, while another ripped an Israeli flag carried by one of the protesters.

Attacking protesters and desecrating flags “is neither right nor left — but simply a criminal act of a small, incited and extremist handful motivated by hatred,” weighs in National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz.

Calling on the police to bring the perpetrators to justice, Gantz says that the Israeli people “are fed up with extremists who are doing everything they can to divide us.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman issues a call for wartime unity, declaring that such incidents are unacceptable and that Israelis must not let toxicity “disintegrate Israeli society.”