Right-wing protesters storm Tel Aviv building housing Joint List campaign office

Mordechai David and other provocateurs disrupt screening of film encouraging consciousness objection to military service; police don't show up until after they leave

By Noam Lehmann Today, 2:20 am
A screenshot of video showing Mordechai David and other right-wing protesters clashing with people at the Joint List's campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv, October 15, 2026. (X screenshot)

Right-wing protesters on Thursday stormed a building clashing the Joint List party’s campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv and clashed with people who gathered there for an event on conscientious objection to military service.

Footage showed the dozen or so protesters included far-right provocateur Mordechai David and his sidekick Viktor Shriki, both prominent supporters of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

“You won’t show any movie here,” Shriki was filmed saying, as David chimes in, “This here is the state of the Jews.”

Zo HaDerekh, a communist publication affiliated with the Joint List’s Hadash faction, reported that only after the protesters left did police show up on the scene at the Left Bank, a central Tel Aviv club that houses several left-wing civil society groups and is serving as a base for the Joint List.

The club was hosting the screening of a film by left-wing group Mesarvot (Hebrew for “refusers”), which calls for youth to refuse to serve in the IDF.

Witnesses cited by the Haaretz daily said the protesters attempted to reach the Joint List offices on an upper floor.

The Joint List said in a statement that the attack on its campaign office “marks a dangerous new escalation in political violence in Israel, and poses a real threat to the integrity of the upcoming elections.”

“We would demand that the Israel Police act decisively, investigate the attack and hold those responsible accountable,” the statement said.

“But sadly, those sending the thugs are the same people who control the police,” it added, referring to Ben Gvir’s role as minister in charge of the force.

One of the party’s lawmakers, MK Ofer Casif, filed a police complaint on behalf of the Joint List.

Police did not immediately comment.

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