Several coalition lawmakers expressed support for Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman on Saturday after he was filmed forcefully seizing a protester’s megaphone in New York City.
The incident sparked outrage in Israel and the US, with the protesters in New York demanding that Rothman be disinvited from a major parade in support of Israel that will be held in the city on Sunday.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, backed Rothman and condemned the anti-government activists in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The violence against him crossed all red lines long ago,” Smotrich said of Rothman, adding that he hopes local authorities bring charges against the protesters.
Smotrich denounced the demonstrators as a “handful of violent trolls who are eroding the foundations of our democracy.” He added that Rothman will continue to be a leading figure in the judicial overhaul push from his perch as chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
MK Tally Gotliv of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party claimed the use of a megaphone near Rothman was an “assault in every sense” and praised him for his “quick instinct.”
“Oh, the hypocrisy of the left,” she said on Twitter.
Likud MK Ariel Kallner also accused the protesters of hypocrisy and said he supported Rothman “who is contending with vile thugs.”
Rothman, a key architect of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul, is one of several Israeli lawmakers in New York for the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on Sunday. The march is a significant event for the city’s Jewish community and a major expression of solidarity with the Jewish state, but this year’s parade has been marred by discord over the government’s plans to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.
The lawmakers visiting New York have been repeatedly targeted by anti-overhaul protesters, who have focused on Rothman for his key role in advancing the judicial legislation.
Late Friday, Rothman appeared to lose his cool with demonstrators walking behind him and denouncing him with a megaphone as he walked back to his hotel.
In a video shared by protesters, Rothman can be seen spinning around and forcibly grabbing the megaphone from a woman, before running off with it.
הרגע שבו חבר הכנסת רוטמן חוטף ממפגינה את המגפון *עובר על החוק.
אנחנו בדרך למשטרה. pic.twitter.com/XCsCzeIOHx
— Shany Granot-Lubaton (שני גרנות-לובטון) (@ShanyGranot) June 3, 2023
Further video showed protesters continuing to scuffle with Rothman and his security as they tried to get the megaphone back. At least two people were pushed to the floor.
“Even Rothman’s violence won’t break our resolve,” the woman who had held the megaphone said in a statement. She later filed a police complaint against the lawmaker for harassment.
The protesters appealed to the parade’s organizers on Saturday, asking them to condemn Rothman for seizing the megaphone and rescind his invitation from the parade.
“His behavior not only shames Israel but also goes against the principles of democracy and Judaism that we value,” the protesters said in a statement.
The leader of the opposition’s Labor party, Merav Michaeli, said the incident symbolized Rothman’s efforts to silence democracy in Israel.
“Someone who tries to seize democracy in Israel, don’t be surprised when he seizes a megaphone from a protester who is telling him the truth to his face,” Michaeli tweeted after the incident.
The protesters in New York are part of a network of Israeli activists in the US and other countries called UnXeptable. They have been holding weekly rallies in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, as well as events targeting government ministers in New York and US supporters of the overhaul.
They have built out a well-coordinated network of hundreds in and around the city in recent months, efforts that are paying off as they work to disrupt the lawmakers’ visits to New York. Group members alert organizers when they spot the politicians around the city by sending in photos and a location, and other nearby activists are then dispatched to the scene. Protesters confronted Rothman as he relaxed on a park bench in Brooklyn on Thursday to tell him that “he’s not wanted here.” On Saturday morning, they filmed Rothman outside a hotel in Manhattan.
Activists from Israel, including members of the Brothers in Arms group, have joined the New York protesters ahead of Sunday’s parade. Other protesters flew into New York from other parts of the US.
The demonstrators held another rally on Saturday outside an event featuring Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli. Several dozen participants, many wearing shirts representing protest groups in Israel, shouted “shame” at Chikli as he entered the building, and sang and chanted from the sidewalk while the minister was inside.
שר התפוצות עמיחי שיקלי מתקבל בקריאות "בושה" על ידי מתנגדי הרפורמה המשפטית במנהטן בכניסה לאחד מבתי הכנסת בעיר. (קרדיט: רונן ריק) pic.twitter.com/PuF41ZBqUA
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) June 3, 2023
Some of the event’s attendees taunted the protesters, with one repeatedly shouting “Netanyahu” and “Likud” at the rally. Most interactions between the two groups were friendly.
The Saturday rally was one in a series against government representatives at their appearances in and around New York City throughout the week.
Rothman decried the US demonstrations on Thursday.
“To the leaders of the protest against Israel’s democratically elected government, I say today: Is it not enough that you worked to damage critical unity among our fighting forces, and have both incited to and committed violence in Israel?” Rothman said.
He called on President Isaac Herzog “to condemn the organizations who stand ready to destroy the State of Israel’s most important relationship with world Jewry just to gain points in a domestic political struggle.”
UnXeptable called on the organizers of the Celebrate Israel Parade to rescind the invitations to the coalition lawmakers in a statement this week.
It’s unclear how many Israeli lawmakers will participate — reports this week put the figure as high as 18, but Netanyahu on Wednesday told members of Likud to not attend due to public criticism over the cost of sending so many politicians abroad.
The Israeli demonstrators in New York aim to express support for the protest movement in Israel and voice opposition to the judicial overhaul in the US. The US-based demonstrators work together with protest leaders in Israel.
Some of the activists will march in Sunday’s parade with the progressive group Ameinu.
The weekly protests in Israel saw slightly increased turnout Saturday evening over last week, with the rallies boosted by renewed anger at police over a forceful crackdown on a Friday night protest near Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea, and over the incident with Rothman.
Various Hebrew media outlets estimated that between 95,000 and 140,000 people attended the main rally on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, alongside thousands of others in some 150 locations around the country, in the 22nd week of regular protests against the now-paused government plan. Last week’s Tel Aviv rally drew an estimated 80,000 people.
During a rally in Caesarea on Saturday, protest leader Shikma Bressler denounced the New York incident, saying: “Rothman’s violence toward a protester in New York shows that the leadership has lost its ability to rule with legitimate means, and is therefore employing force exactly like dictatorial regimes.”
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