Police nab suspect in attack on Israeli writer
Man who allegedly assaulted Yehonatan Geffen at his home says he was offended by his comments on the election results
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Police on Monday arrested a man suspected of attacking Israeli writer Yehonatan Geffen at his home earlier this month.
Geffen told police he had answered the door to his Netanya residence on March 20 when the man at the door hit him, threw eggs at him and called him a “traitor” before running off.
Police said the suspect admitted to the crime and said he was offended by Geffen’s statements two days earlier, when the writer told a Tel Aviv audience that the prime minister was racist and commented bitterly on the results of the March 17 elections.
Geffen was not badly hurt in the attack but was reported to have been deeply traumatized by it.
Following Netanyahu’s reelection, Geffen, a noted left-wing activist, addressed a crowd in Tel Aviv to express his concern over the country’s future. “Congratulations to the Emperor for being reelected again,” Geffen said.
“He hasn’t crushed us enough. Another four years of divisiveness, divisiveness, divisiveness. I don’t mind telling you that I am very sad and could not sleep all night. March 17 will prove to be a Nakba for the peace camp,” Geffen said, using the Arabic word for catastrophe that is commonly used in the Arab world to describe the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Geffen also criticized Netanyahu for stating that Arab-Israelis were “voting in droves” on election day in a video used to drive Likud supporters to the polls and accused voters of electing “a leader that has promised us death.”
The Times of Israel Community.