Police detain man said to have pressed up against female cop from behind at protest
Anti-government activist of war veterans’ protest group denies wrongdoing, says video from Jerusalem demonstration ‘fabricated’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Police on Friday detained an anti-government protester who allegedly pressed up against a female Border Police officer at a mass demonstration in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Footage of the incident, posted to Instagram on Thursday by rapper and right-wing activist Yoav Eliasi, showed the man appearing to cling to the officer from behind as she and other cops bent down to try to disperse demonstrators who were blocking the road. The officer and another female colleague pushed the man away. Police accuse the man of committing an indecent act.
The incident occurred as thousands of people took to the streets in Jerusalem on Tuesday for a series of demonstrations against the government over its contentious policies on the war, the state budget, the judicial system, and more.
Speaking to Channel 12 on Thursday, the man, a well-known activist aged 73, denied wrongdoing. “The video was completely fabricated,” he said, adding that he was shoved as he tried to help protesters who were sitting on the ground.
Superintendent Brik Yitzhak, the Border Police commander, said the incident seen in the video was “grave, disgraceful and unacceptable.”
“We’re committed to protecting the freedom of expression and protest, but we won’t let demonstrations become a zone of assault and humiliation against our fighters. That’s a red line,” said Yitzhak.
Anti-government activist Gonen Ben Yitzhak — who, according to Haaretz, is representing the accused activist in legal proceedings — slammed police for announcing on Thursday night that it would start a probe based on what Ben Yitzhak called “a cooked-up video by a right-wing activist.”
תיעוד המפגין שנחשד בביצוע מעשה מגונה בשוטרת בירושלים.
צילום: דוברות המשטרה pic.twitter.com/tCrMp3Cjq1— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) March 27, 2025
Kippur Fighters ’73, a group of activist veterans of the Yom Kippur War of whom the accused man is a member, also rejected the allegations, accusing police of kowtowing to Eliasi and threatening to sue “disseminators of the lie.”
“This is a pathetic attempt to besmirch the name of a lieutenant colonel in reserves, an Israeli hero and one of the protest’s leaders,” the group said in a statement. “The Kippur fighters respect every man and woman as such — not least the female officers of the Border Police.”
Police arrested the activist on Friday after securing a warrant from Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Bilha Yahalomi, who said there were reasonable grounds to suspect him of committing an indecent act, as well as disrupting a police officer’s work, taking part in an illegal gathering, and creating a public hazard.
Judge Eitan Cohen of the court had rejected the police’s request for an arrest warrant Thursday night, saying the matter was not urgent enough for an overnight arrest and that it was “difficult to see [physical] contact” in the video he was provided. However, Cohen gave police leave to resubmit the request after further review.
Cohen had received from police the testimony of the female officer who was seen bending over in the video. In the testimony, quoted by the Ynet news site, the unnamed officer said the activist “stuck his legs out to disturb me, tried to separate me from a protester I tried to pick up, and screamed into my ear with a megaphone.”
“As I was talking to officers and giving them orders, the same protester approached me with a megaphone to my ear and just carried out the act that you see in the video,” she said.
Asked if the situation made her uncomfortable, the officer answered that it did.
The Times of Israel Community.