From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Protests disrupt Ben Gvir interview as far-right minister asks, ‘What happened to democracy?’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleStav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s interview at an event at Tel Aviv University is derailed by protests, with demonstrators chanting, “There will be no fascism here,” as a smaller crowd of counterprotesters shout, “Death to Arabs.”
“What happened to democracy?” Ben Gvir asks the crowd. “All of a sudden, when it’s a voice from the other side, you don’t want to hear it?”
He accuses the protesters of agreeing to hear leaders of the Arab-majority parties Ra’am and the Joint List, as well as left-wing Democrats chairman Yair Golan, who took the stage earlier in the evening, while trying to silence him.
Ben Gvir argues that Hamas made no distinction between left and right in its October 7, 2023, onslaught, seeking to kill Israelis “because we’re Jews.”
He also reiterates that he wants to “conquer all of Gaza,” saying Hamas must not remain there.
The Times of Israel Community.