Meretz MK’s car vandalized by forklift days before primaries

Meretz MK Ali Salalha’s car was vandalized by a man driving a forklift outside the left-wing party’s headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

In the CCTV footage published by Kan on Tuesday, a man can be seen wedging the vehicle’s fork underneath Salalha’s car and inflicting damage on it.

According to the report, the incident occurred on Tuesday and lasted several minutes.

Salalha has filed a police complaint for willful damage to his vehicle.

The motives for the attack are unclear, though Salalha is shaping up as a kingmaker within the Meretz party ahead of its primary vote next week.

The police opened an investigation.

תיעוד: רכבו של ח"כ עלי סלאלחה ממרצ הושחת ע"י אלמוני באמצעות מלגזה מחוץ למטה המפלגה. הח"כ הגיש תלונה במשטרה@SuleimanMas1 #חדשותהערב pic.twitter.com/hJHzmZQjsA

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 16, 2022

Recent polls indicate that Meretz is at risk of not passing the electoral threshold in November’s general election, meaning the party could be excluded from the next Knesset.

Although polls in Israel are notoriously inaccurate, if Meretz were to fail to cross the threshold it would spell bad news for the anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

Ali Salalha celebrates after the release Meretz primaries in Tel Aviv, February 14, 2019. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Lapid’s center-left coalition is relying on left-wing parties winning seats in the Knesset in order to challenge the right-wing Netanyahu bloc.

The Meretz primaries will take place on August 23.