Israeli political leaders traded blame over protests in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities during Jewish holiday on Monday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog commented on the protests, calling the Israelis to “learn lessons and fully understand that the internal Israeli threat is the most acute and dangerous threat of all.”
“Just yesterday, in the midst of the holy day, exactly 50 years after the outbreak of the war, we saw … a shocking and painful example of how the inner struggle within us escalates and exaggerates,” Herzog stated, as quoted by Israeli media.
Earlier on Monday, a religious group, defying a municipality order backed up by the Supreme Court, set up an improvised gender divider for the so-called Yom Kippur prayers in a central Tel Aviv square, prompting protests from liberal Israelis.
Similar events, and similar protests, took place in public spaces across the Zionist entity.
Israeli politicians fanned the flames of the public divide, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the “people of Israel sought to unite on Yom Kippur, in a request for forgiveness and unity among us.”
“To our astonishment, in the Jewish state, on the holiest day for the Jewish people, left-wing protestors acted out against Jews during their prayers. It seems there are no boundaries, no norms and no limit to the hatred from the extremists on the left. I, like the majority of Israeli citizens, reject this. Such violent behavior has no place among us,” Netanyahu stated.
Opposition Responds
Leaders of the political opposition, however, placed the blame on makeshift barriers and the use of flags that were placed by the prayer organizers as a symbolic separation of men and women, despite a Supreme Court decision that ruled against such dividers in public places.
“Mr. Netanyahu, at the end of Yom Kippur, a prime minister should not add to the incitement and strife, but try to calm the spirits,” Opposition Leader, and former Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“For your information, most of the people who came to protest against the coercion of the mishichists (messianists) had fasted and prayed on this Yom Kippur,” Lapid added.
“They are not against Judaism, they are trying to save Judaism from the racist and extremist group that gifted them the power,” he concluded, referring to the right-wing coalition that consists of several religious and ultra-Orthodox parties.
For his part, former Israeli defense minister and chairman of the National Unity party Benny Gantz said in a statement: “For 75 years, a large majority of Israelis managed to reach agreements on the public space on Yom Kippur, so that it would be adjusted according to the community.”
“Now, whoever decided to separate us – succeeded in desecrating this holy day with coercion and gratuitous hatred. And who if not the Prime Minister, the biggest generator of hatred, is the one who now chooses to fan the fire, together with politicians who have decided to turn our public space into a disaster zone,” the National Unity party leader accused.
“I call on all the leaders to show responsibility, and stop the discourse and actions of the debaters,” he added.
Accused by opposition members for his role in empowering right-wing nationalists, Israeli so-called National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the protestors “haters who tried to expel Judaism from the public sphere,” adding that he would hold evening prayers in the Tel Aviv square on Thursday.
Source: Israeli media
